Antigrav Video Game Review
If you've been wasting time outside for the last couple years you may have missed EyeToy—Sony's revolutionary new "physical and interactive gaming technology." EyeToy Play and EyeToy Groove revolutionized the interactive videogame world by allowing players to control games with physical movements as opposed to standard joysticks. AntiGrav, PlayStation2's newest ride, is the next step in the EyeToy's evolution. Developed by Harmonix, AntiGrav is the first and only 3D character based game that uses facial and body recognition technology to control a character in futuristic hoverboard game play.
With the USB EyeToy camera aimed at the player and plugged into a PlayStation2, AntiGrav uses a combination of advanced facial and motion tracking technology to lock onto the player. The gamer's movements then steer, jump, duck, accelerate, and brake an onscreen character through hoverboard races down city streets, over rooftops and in the air.
Players can rack up points in Style, Speed, or Multiplayer modes. Get tricky in Style mode by moving your arms in certain directions to imitate initiating tricks in real life (move your arms up simultaneously to initiate a backflip; pull ‘em down to stick it).
If you feel like an idiot dancing around in front of the TV, just remember pro snowboarder Shaun White gives AntiGrav his stamp of approval. "It's one of the most exciting games I've played," says White. "You have to put your whole body into it."
Although AntiGrav is the best EyeToy concept to date, the genre has definite room to grow. The game uses its EyeToy technology as a somewhat of a crutch and skates by with a minimum amount of depth and variety. Five uninspiring levels, a shallow trick system and an overall dated design would be valid criticisms without the EyeToy feature. In addition, AntiGrav requires brighter conditions than its EyeToy predecessors. On the flip side, the soundtrack pumps some funky beats and the motion detecting is pretty impressive. And it's a much better party trick than sitting next to the bong and playing Tony Hawk's Underground all night.
All in all, AntiGrav is the most innovative and progressive game on the market. It's fun to get off the LazyBoy and shred carpet, but in the end you'll probably miss having a good old-fashioned controller to throw across the room.