Invizimals

Developer: XDev Studio Europe/Novarama

Publisher: SCEE

Genre: Kids

Format: PSP

Release date: November 2009

Players: 1 - 2

Game Sharing: Yes

Ad Hoc Mode: none

Infrastructure Mode: none

Media type: UMD

Novarama's PSP game Invizimals may smack of an obvious Pokémon clone, but the PSP Camera-enabled pet collection game is still fascinating to look at, with magical appeal that younger games might just eat up.

 

Invizimals adds to the mini-monster collect-and-evolve genre with some technically impressive augmented reality tricks, something along the lines of Sony's PlayStation Eye powered Eye of Judgment. Invizimals turns the PSP and camera attachment into something like a Geiger counter, or for the sake of our analogy, the PKE meter used in Ghostbusters.

 

Players will need to discover Invizimals in the real world, using the camera to root out "creatures of light," according to Novarama's Daniel Sanchez-Crespo. The game's fiction says that the PSP Camera has been discovered by a Sony engineer in Tokyo to be more sensitive than the human eye, able to detect invisible creatures lurking on real-world objects.

 

Using the PSP and a specially designed disk, Invizimal hunters will have to locate and trap 100-plus hidden creatures, adding them to their collection. Creatures will be spawned based on environmental conditions, with a bit of randomness, to keep things interesting. The trapping of those creatures is vaguely Ghostbusters-esque: find the Invizimal with the on-screen sensor, throw down the trap, then slap the beast to stun it.

 

Very tactile, very cool. And potentially very dangerous, should a stray Invizimal spawn on some poor grandmother's china cabinet.

 

Like Pokémon, players can evolve their Invizimal then battle their friends and computer controlled opponents, casting spells by shaking the PSP, blowing into the device and drawing spell runes with an on-screen cursor.

 

We saw a few varied states of some of the game's creatures, an armadillo-like beast, the mosquito-like Stingwing and the menacing Icelion. Using the game's trap, players can hold their Invizimal in their hand, twisting it, turning it and viewing it from any angle.

 

Invizimals is planned to be packaged with a PSP Camera when the game ships and will work on both the PSP and PSP go.

Invizimals utilizes the PSP's camera attachment, which snaps to the top of the portable console. It appears as if a Sony engineer in Tokyo has discovered that the PSP camera is more sensitive than the human eye and can therefore see life forms that are living right underneath our noses. After watching a 'live' video message from the scientist, you are tasked with locating some of these critters in your very own home. To find them, you need to walk around your house, your friend’s house, or any location that you have access to while watching the camera feed on the PSP screen closely. When you get near an Invizimal, the screen will begin to pulse as the sensor picks up their signal. Once the screen flashes red, you are near enough to capture them. You throw down your trap—a small, star-shaped object—on the surface in front of you. If you picked the right spot, an Invizimal will appear on top of the trap on your PSP screen, looking as if he is right in front of you.

 

Once the critter is visible, you can move the PSP all around him. The game's software keeps him (or her) firmly planted on the card as if they were really there, and the developer even picked up the card in front of us to show that the creature would now be standing in the palm of his hand. The way that the software implants the Invizimals into the video feed is seamless, as the developer moved the camera 360 degrees around the trap and the monster stayed in place. You can also interact with the little guy in a number of ways, demonstrated by the monster getting scared when the developer yelled “boo” in his direction. At this point, you are tasked with catching the Invizimal by performing a simple minigame. Some examples that were shown was swatting at him, shaking the PSP, and even yelling into the camera's mic, but more will exist within the full game. Once you have captured an Invizimal, they will appear in your inventory and be ready for battle.

"To find them, you need to walk around your house, your friend’s house, or any location that you have access to while watching the camera feed on the PSP screen closely" cia tai patiko ,tipo eisim pas kaimynus namuose irgi gyvena tie padarai tai reikia ir pas juos paziuret

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