not very groovy just average.

Author's Rating:

Pros: not a bad dance game

Cons: not a great one either.

The Bottom Line: 
groovy.

Author's Review
I got Eye Toy Groove several months ago when I got it in a bundle pack with the eye toy. My main reason for getting it was to use it for DDR Extreme. After playing some of groove I have to say if you’re into dancing game then DDR Extreme is a lot better, but if your looking for something a bit different then it might be ok.

Point of game.
The game uses the eye toy USB camera that plugs into the USB ports of your playstation 2. It not only puts an image of your self on screen but lets you interact with things going on screen. In the case of eye toy groove the idea is to move your upper body to hit the moving symbols has they move to the side of the screen. In that way it’s just like Dance Dance revolution except you use your arms more then your legs.

Graphics.
Not much do the graphics in the game, basically for a background there is you and the room your standing in. Then everything else appears over the picture the camera is producing. The in game graphics are simple you have balloon heads that head from center to the edges of the screen, and then you have arrows that do the same thing. During some parts of whatever dance your on you will hit an intermission where the eye toy will record video of you, at that time special FX might appear on your image turning it to red or purple depending on how much you move, or adding explosions to wherever you move your hand.

Sound.
Some good songs are in this disc including the YMCA, I will survive, we are family and several other hit songs. But it’s a bit of a limited selection with only about 25 songs in the whole list.

Gameplay.
Ok the main point in eye toy groove is to dance in front of the Eye toy camera. Like DDR you have to time your movements to the symbols. Instead of arrows most symbols are that of balloon heads, your hands or another part of your body will have to hit the symbol at the right time it passes the circles on the edge of the screen. There are also hold balloons where you have to shake your hand on that circle in till the entire balloon passes, has well as arrows which make you move your hands in a certain direction to follow the arrows. Like DDR the closer you are to hitting the balloon in the middle of circle more points you get, if you start missing symbols you start getting razz and if you miss to many of them then it’s game over.

Like DDR there is a calorie mode but you have to set it each time you play and inless you weight around 100 pounds getting it to the right number can be a bit of a pain. It also dosen’t keep charts or graphics like DDR does anyways so inless you must have a calorie count this is kind of a wasted option.

Off the main mode there are several other modes in which to try this game out. First is group groove where you and another person dance to the songs playing in the game, I haven’t tried this mode out yet but I hear it’s the best way to play. Then there is the chill out room mode. This room has mini games where you play with the eye toy special effects or just dance without circles of symbols to one of the songs. There are also music videos to watch here as well. And finally there is also a create your own routine where you can create your own routine easily enough. While the song plays you just start hitting the circles where you want the symbols to fly during your dance. After words you can test it and even save it to the memory card.

So what’s wrong with the game that I am giving it a 3 star and a no recommendation? Ok Eye toy groove isn’t a terrible game but it’s nothing really compared to Dance Dance revaluation compare to the fun factor. But that’s not the reason for the low rating. It comes to how responsive this thing is. In regular mode I did notice I missed a few even though my hand was on the symbol, but that’s not the biggest problem the game as. It’s the menus and getting through them to get to the game is a pain. Ok in all eye toy games I have played so far getting through the menu as a been a bit to much of a chore for there own good. But eye toy groove takes the cake in frustrating menus. You have to reach over and touch the button you want to select and then shake your hand, and then shake your hand, and shake your hand for what seems like forever before the thing acknowledges that your selecting an option and moves on. Worse is that sometimes it won’t even acknowledge that your pressing a button despite your hand is over it and it’s shaking. A problem in all eye toy games I know but it seems to be the most annoying in this one.

Final recommendation.
Eye toy groove isn’t a bad dance game but it’s nothing compare to DDR. You can also add in the annoying menus and eye toy groove isn’t something I can really recommend. Only if you have tried all the DDR’s can I recommend eye toy groove.