There's a feature I found intriguing but a bit frustrating- you can draw a picture, with pen and paper, of a boat or car and it will 'come to life' for your EyePet to play with. A short tutorial will show the player how to draw the boat or car, and leave a bit of white space on the page. Then you're to aim the PSP Camera on it, making sure the drawing is entirely within the frame and all four sides of the frame are green. The first time I tried to capture a car drawing, the game froze completely. The next day, I tried the drawing games again. I tried drawing my car with darker or lighter lines. There was no such luck. Capturing my boat was a lot easier. Then, Lexi tried to draw what I drew. The first few times we drew the boat together, my lines obviously weren't dark enough and she was only drawing part of it. After a few tries though, my boat 'came to life' exactly as I drew it, and it became a three dimensional toy for Lexi.
The game also froze the very first time I tried to take a picture of myself. The technology has some bugs to work out, but I imagine developing the game was a Herculean effort for London Studio, even after having developed EyePet for the PS3 shortly beforehand.
Bathing and feeding Lexi reminded me of my experiences playing Nintendogs a few years ago. It was strangely relaxing, but thankfully, there are no negative consequences that come from not engaging in those activities. It was also a lot of fun to display photos of Lexi in her Pet Home, but unfortunately, the wall will only display two photos at a time.
There are no parental warnings on the game for content, so parents may feel fine about purchasing the game for a six-year-old. But for your six-year-old to enjoy the game, sometimes parental help will be required, especially when drawing.
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