During a Sony press event held during Comic-Con, I was able to play a few rounds of The Eye of Judgment against Sony's Brian Keltner and ask some questions of associate producer Kyle Zundel and product manager Mark Valledor. To my genuine surprise, my unequivocally negative opinion of the game changed, though I still have a few reservations. But first, the good parts.

My single biggest initial snap eye of judgment against The Eye of Judgment was that, simply, it seemed completely pointless. As I watched the game being played during an already uninspiring press conference, I could not fathom why anybody would want to bother with the PlayStation Eye's apparently unreliable card scanning technology and overhead of the console, rather than just sit down and play the game sans expensive technology.

After playing the game, I got my answer: it would be a massive pain in the ass. The goal of The Eye of Judgment is to be the first player to control five of the seven map zones, each of which has a primary and secondary alignment--drawn from fire, wood, water, earth, and the mechanical biolith--that changes from game to game (and in some cases in the middle of a game). These alignments interact with the creatures played on the zones in various ways, and to various degrees. On top of that, creature hit points persist from turn to turn, some creatures have properties that take effect based on random chance, and a variety of factors cause certain zones to change between playable and unplayable states over the course of the game.

Essentially, the game could be played "manually" with a bounty of counters, markers, and dice, but it would probably be more trouble than it's worth. "It's difficult," admitted Zundel. "You'd have to monitor a lot. It's a lot of paperwork." When everything is tracked automatically, on the other hand, all of that complexity becomes extremely digestible, just as it is in normal video games.

Mechanically, the game is played by setting the included Eye, stand, and playing field on a flat surface, calibrating the device to the appropriate light sensitivity, and simply playing cards. All board actions are mirrored onscreen. To summon a creature to the field or cast a magic card--which, as in many similar games, costs mana--simply place the card on the desired zone, facing the direction of your choice. Each creature has specific a attack pattern and range, making facing important. To perform more specific actions such as attacking, hold one of four action cards under the Eye.

Believe it or not, it's a lot less awkward than it seems. You can use the controller for non-summoning, non-casting actions if you wish, but it ends up being easier simply to use the cards, since you're already dealing with your hand. The game calculates all stats and figures, indicates when to draw cards, and informs players when they are attempting to perform an illegal move or do not have sufficient mana, all of which is extremely helpful given how many things are being tracked.

At its core, Eye of Judgment is about deck-building and strategy. Though the playing field is small and the goal--control five squares--seemingly simple, it gets quite deep, with all sorts of secondary actions going on--possessing enemy creatures, dealing with alignment-related positive or negative effects, flipping a zone's alignment to mess with a creature deployed on it, and so on.

When it ships, the game will come with the equipment needed to play along with a standardized 30-card starter set and an eight-card random booster pack. Sony, in partnership with Wizards of the Coast, plans to market the game as a full-scale collectible card game. When the game launches October 23, the total set will be comprised of 110 cards. Four months later, a 100-card expansion will be released, adding new rules in addition to the new cards.

"It's going to be the same principles, but build on it," explained Zundel. "Every time Magic has a new set, they reinvent some game mechanics. We should be able to do that." The companies have two years of expansions planned already, with more to come if the game is a success. I asked if players would be able to simply download the new rules through the PlayStation Network rather than installing them with physical media, but the team members responded that distribution plans have not yet been worked out.

As far as the cards themselves, though, the plan is to make them as available as possible, using the established pull of both Sony and Wizards of the Coast owner Hasbro. "Crossing our fingers, we'll hope you can buy boosters in either the video game aisle or the card store," said Zundel.

So, the game is fun, and it works, but I still have a few concerns. One is simply related to interface. Even with the PS3 counting everything, there is a lot of information on the screen, and with the real-time models and effects superimposed over the virtual cards and board, it can be a little cluttered. Doubtless the team felt the need to justify the use of the PS3 hardware, but it's really nothing that couldn't be done graphically on any other modern system, and for playability's sake a cleaner screen would be more beneficial.

I played three games of The Eye of Judgment, and had varying experiences with the PlayStation Eye. While my second and third games went off without a hitch, the first was plagued by a slow and occasionally unresponsive card reader. The game has a light calibration setting that will hopefully ameliorate these issues.

One of my biggest questions about the game is how online support would be handled--after all, what's to stop players from just looking at every card in their decks and hand-picking the cards to draw? Well, before playing online, you must register your deck with the game, and during play it simply instructs you which cards to draw--so while nothing is stopping you looking at all the cards you have, the game knows what you actually have in your hand and keeps you from simply grabbing all the good ones immediately. I imagine it would be something of a tedious process to register a deck, but it's better than the alternative.

Currently, online only supports standard head-to-head play, but Sony hopes to include official tournament support as well, as well as to sponsor real-life tournaments in game stores. It is likely the company will also try to market the game to existing CCG fans by holding events in traditional gaming stores.

While I now know why the game benefits from the use of the PlayStation 3 and its Eye, my original question has been replaced with another--why the cards? While the cards work, and add charm to the game, they will add a level of expense that many gamers might consider unnecessary for a game that will already cost more than standard retail price with the Eye included, especially now that Xbox Live Arcade has seen the successful and inexpensive translation of various popular board games. Still, for what it is, The Eye of Judgment is fun. Its actual game mechanics are solid and deep, enough to change what I thought was an incontrovertible unfavorable opinion. We'll see if gamers are convinced this fall.

Sony Computer Entertainment America plans to ship SCEJ's The Eye of Judgment for PS3 on October 23, 2007 in North America, with a release within days in other territories. It will be available with or without the required PlayStation Eye, which can be acquired separately or as a pack-in with other compatible games.