Title Lair (review #1) Date 09.07.2007 Genre Action, Flying Platform PlayStation 3 Developer Factor 5 Publisher SCEA

Editor's Note: Because of the controversy the game has caused regarding the gameplay and its control scheme, we've decided to provide two opinions, in order for you to derive the most out of our review of Lair. Review #2 can be found here

Ah, Lair. Few PS3 titles have been as hotly anticipated ever since the game was originally announced back in 2005. Stunning visuals, Sixaxis controls, and a few delays only fueled anticipation for the game, but now that it's finally here, it has more or less met a brick wall of critical resistance. The game, so far, has been maligned for many things, most notably its control scheme. Having played through the game, I find these criticisms to be largely unfounded. The most apt way to sum up Lair in one sentence would be to say, "Give this game a chance."

The story certainly isn't at fault. While technically not the most innovative of stories, it's compelling in its own way. You play as Rohn, a member of the Asylian Sky Guard. A long time ago, the kingdoms of Asylia and Mokai were one until a series of volcanoes threatened existence itself. Reason gave way to religion, and the two split, spawning an ever-growing hatred between the two. When Mokai comes in and attacks the city, it's Rohn's job to do what any good Asylian would do: beat the ever-living crap out of them. Of course, some plot twists follow, and Rohn begins to realize that the situation isn't as black and white as the Asylian Diviner would have everyone believe, and that the Mokai as a people really aren't all that different from the Asylians. Some plot twists follow, and Rohn's personality fleshes out along with it. It may not be worthy of an Oscar, but especially for an action title with dragons in it, the story is impressive in its scope and does a decent enough job of pulling the player in.

The graphics also, for the most part, pull their weight. Some very impressive FMV cut-scenes move the action along and make it easy to lose yourself in the detail of the characters, the backgrounds, the dragons, and, well, whatever else is on the screen. The world you fly through is beautiful as well, with great lighting effects, detailed buildings, and some awesome looking dragons. Add in the fact that the game supports 1080p and it just makes those details stand out even more.

Unfortunately, it also makes some of the very odd graphical problems stand out at well. Screen tearing is not uncommon, especially in a lot of the cut-scenes that are rendered by the engine. Flapping wings look utterly ridiculous at times and don't look real, even if the rest of the creature and the world it's in does. At a distance, a lot of the enemy dragons look pretty similar to each other, so it's not always obvious as to whether or not the enemy dragon Way Over There is a scrub you can safely ignore or a big beastie that requires immediate killing. Better coloration or different design would have helped this a bit, but all the same, it's not a huge deal, especially if you kill indiscriminately. The one big graphical issue that everyone will notice is that the frame rate does not always keep up with the action. It never slows down to the point where the game is rendered unplayable, but it can get frustrating to have it slow down in the middle of a pitched battle. Regardless, graphically, the good far outweighs the bad, especially on a high-definition display. If you are trying to impress your friends with visuals, this isn't a bad game to use.

The sound definitely pulls its weight as well. Lair is one of the few games where I can really find nothing wrong with the voice acting. The voice actors fit their characters well, and they deliver their dialogue with enough conviction to satisfy their roles in the story. Frequent cut-scenes and chatter help move the story along and keep the player pointed in the right direction as far as mission objectives go. Likewise, the sound effects are also of high quality. The flight sounds are good, the clashing sounds are good, the dragons roar like dragons should, and more importantly, there are plenty of satisfying explosions, crashes, and screams of the dead and dying as you blast buildings back into the Stone Age or tear the masses apart with your dragon. Best of all, the soundtrack is also up to the task. Lair boasts an epic soundtrack that definitely captures the moment and helps enhance the story. All told, minus some graphical issues, the game is definitely easy on your senses.

The gameplay, however, is where The Great Debate about this game begins. Depending on whom you talk to, the game either boasts impressive Sixaxis controls or the game boasts Sixaxis controls and shallow gameplay forged by Satan himself in order to steal the souls of people who play this game. The truth really lies closer to the former than the latter. However, that is not to say that Lair is a game that you can immediately pick up and play. For better or worse, Lair does have a fairly steep learning curve. The air controls are entirely Sixaxis based: you tilt the controller to adjust your altitude and heading. Tilt right, you go right. Tilt left, you go left.

Honestly, it is hard to get used to in the beginning. Playing through the first Prologue mission, I felt completely and utterly lost. This feeling is my best guess as to why Lair has over a dozen Tutorials, a full third of which are dedicated to flight. I believe this is the source of most of the complaints about its control: I, like most other gamers, tend to skip Tutorials when I play games. When I tried to do that with Lair, I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure out all the moves I could do on the dragon. After about an hour of running through the Tutorials, I got much better at it, and honestly, the controls work much better than I originally thought.

I cannot possibly emphasize this point enough: play through all of the Tutorials, and ideally, play at least the flight courses more than once. Many people will have trouble with the 180-degree turn, which requires you to jerk the Sixaxis up. In all honesty, it reminds me of the shield bash with the Wii Nunchuk in Twilight Princess: motion-sensing technology is not quite mastered as of yet, but with practice, it is a hurdle you can overcome. All this having been said, extra control schemes would have been a nice edition, especially considering that the movement on the ground is done entirely with the analog sticks. More options are always better than no options, but regardless, the Sixaxis controls are quite responsive once you spend some time with them. My extra practice sessions enabled me to get through the now-notorious "Bridge" level with absolutely no trouble whatsoever. Again, a little bit of cutting your teeth on the Tutorials makes this a great deal easier.

The lock-on system is there to help you single out targets for better killing. Another large gripe others have with the game is that the computer highlights targets with a white circle for you, at which point you can lock on to that target with L1 or R1. While I suppose it would have been nice to have some sort of way to cycle through targets, in reality, it would probably be nearly impossible to implement, especially when you're flying past ground targets at high speed. The computer does a good job of targeting whatever it is that you're currently pointing at, and I never found targeting to be an issue once I mastered flying.

The most laughable issue is that the gameplay is shallow. You have a dragon, and you kill enemy dragons, cities, troops, and boats, often by lighting them on fire. I suppose you could make the argument that such a system makes for shallow gameplay, but who cares? It's fun! Besides that, what else should the game be? Master Chief walks from room to room, shooting aliens. He doesn't go around building houses or working the night shift at McDonald's. Halo would be much worse if it diverted from the shooter formula. If Ryu Hayabusa spent his time donating to charity and mowing the lawn, Ninja Gaiden would be boring. Lair is meant to be an action game with dragons, and it delivers on the claim. You try lighting a whole squad of troops on fire with a dragon without laughing or at least smiling. It's eternally satisfying, and that's all the game was supposed to do.

Although Lair isn't the longest game to come down the pike, an online leaderboard and a medal system with some unlockables does give the player at least some incentive to come back. Since most of the missions are fairly non-linear in terms of how you go about accomplishing the objectives, it does leave a fair amount of incentive to come back and better yourself. Even more interesting is the fact that you can actually play this game on the PSP. That's right, Lair is portable! With the Remote Link feature, you can have the PS3 render the game and play it anywhere you can take your PSP. While I do not personally have access to this feature, it is a pretty cool perk to have.

Bottom line: Give the game a chance, and more importantly, evaluate the game for what it is. Is it the blockbuster PS3 title to make even the most ardent Sony-hater fork over his 500 dollars? No, and considering the large amount of hype the game received, if you strictly evaluate it in that sense, then you could perhaps rate Lair as a disappointment. Does it have a high learning curve? Yes. But most importantly: is the game fun? The answer is a pretty emphatic yes. Sure, it takes practice, but there is more to this dragon than meets the eye. I, for one, admire developer Factor 5's willingness to take an unorthodox approach. With an epic story, stunning visuals, a great soundtrack, and lots and lots of death and carnage, Lair is definitely a worthy inclusion to an action fan's PS3 library. Besides, who hasn't wanted to feel like the now-famous Trogdor, if only for a moment?

Game Score

B-

Reviewed By: Contributed