~ Lair ~

[Light Cloud]

ok i just put my controller down... its hard to do... i realy love this game
but will put my serious face on and try my best to give you an unbiased review detailing the facts of the game as iv seen so far, hopefuly this way you will get an urge to actualy try this game out yourself and not be led around like sheep over those stupid people who couldnt figure out the controls and rated the game poorly because of that.

LAIR

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lair is a dragon riding game for the ps3, in which you are issued a pair of shiny steel boots and partner dragon. you are a Sky Guard.

first i would like to present to you the menu.
the menu of "lair" is alittle dulled down to me but not that much of an issue considering its got nothing to do with the game ^^ but it does have some realy nice music to go along with your browsing of the online services (online leader board, home page and messages), any extras you have unlocked and options ofcause.

as you start your new tale you will see during the choices of levels, you are presented with the map of the world and you sitting on your dragon, allowing you to first get a feel of the motion controling of this game... its not to indepth how you move in this section of the game considering its only the level select menu, but its a nice touch.

Upon starting you will be pressented with a training level were you will learn how to control in flight (you start off however on foot and then mount your dragon, which is to me unbelievably cool).

the first thing i noticed was the smooth control and fluid response found with piloting your dragon, though for me i had the need to change the camera controls around.

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as soon as your done you are then presented with an attack on your citys main harbour, with a realy beautiful water based city being attacked from the sea by ships harboring cattapults which are firing giant fire balls into the city... realy awesome view i thought...

as soon as you get to the water to start doing your dragon thing on those boats i would sujest geting use to pulling up on your reigns to slow your big boy/girl down and notice the difference between taping on the square button (causing a fire ball) or holding it down for a flame stream.

done with the boats? now its time for the enemy to call in their dragons... of the ice kind... well guess what ice dragons... Fire > Ice

now the thing is here you have quite a large area to cover and ofcause you have lots of sky too, so some could find this a daunting task, as you must spot the enemy dragons from your allies (psst... enemies shoot ice ).
to help though when your dragon spots one it will glow a light white colour and with a tap of the circle you will dive bomb straight towards them.

now im going to skip what else happens in the first mission and get to the next... cause in the next (settles self down from over excitment) you are able to do all that you have plus land and run around (still on the dragon though... it would be stupid otherwise considering the amount of the army you must face ) i found it realy fun to run through the enemies army and let the dragon have its fill of foot soldiers (feeding assists in health) or just burn em ^^

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ok well i will stop there two lvls should be enough of a preveiw if you can get a picture from my horrible writing

Controls
realy amazing im not sure what i was expecting but it realy does show the motion sensor on the PS3 should not be looked on as a poor substitute of the Wiimote. there are a couple sections were you will have to be abit more forceful with your flicking of your controller to get the dragon to do a 360 and to ram an enemy dragon, but thats the only time it didnt move the way i wanted it to.

Graphics
The Cut scenes are all using the ingame graphics with the more pollished cgi cutscenes for when the characters are talking. i did notice a little bit of jerkyness in the first movieish thing but im not sure if its cause of my tv. (not a big issue that would make you mad)

Music/Sound
the menu music is realy nice and is never going to get on your nerves, its pretty much blockbuster movie music i would say. sounds of the dragons and troops are also very responcive to what you just did. another plus.

Gameplay
this is a dragon rider experience, it is not an rpg or anything else. so realise that this is a level based game. but the levels are nice and large (space wise, there are short lvls but i feel its quite a nice length of time). would have been nice to run around eating and burning things for abit longer though ^^.
you get to ride a dragon like iv only ever wanted to in other games, and ofcause landing and running around giant armys as you tower above them with hunger in your eyes is an experience no ps3 owner should miss.

replayablity
now this is the thing for me, i dont get many games which are single player only titles... i like my games online so i can have some fun. (apart from rpgs which are awesome ^^) this game however one you finish i think is one you could come back too... i mean how many games do you get where to have full control of a giant fire breathing dragon. there is ofcause the extras to unlock, cheats to put in (do a search from "Lair: hot coffee" i dare you ^^) and a worldwide ranking ladder to climb... i am hoping for added levels maybe later via download but im not sure if they are planing such thing.

Last message
if dragons are something you you love to ride, and you wish to see a game which i realy said "hey this is impressive" then as a PS3 owner you cant realy go wrong with "Lair".

I have not played through the whole game but i do look forward to, and does pull me away from Warhawk and blue dragon, so its gotta be somthing worth playing right? ^^

the PS3 has been holding off on their big titles, Lair is the start of the Sony attack for their big next gen machine and i think they realy do show the potential that we, or atleast I, have been hoping for.

thanks for reading my review, know i always seems to write alot in reviews so im not just doing this cause i think only i would like it. i am writing this review in the hopes that the people who have read the poor reviews online will actualy say "hey, this might be something worth checking out". i mean the owner of the shop i go to said "i wouldnt hold ur breath i read its a poor game" and now i look forward to telling him i would like to order myself a copy cause it rocks

Fly high my friends, we have a land to protect!

[Momma Bear]

You know it's one thing about reviews that you can't actually trust. Everyone one has a different opinion. This is a damn good review Light Cloud. You took your time and thought it out. Very nice. Almost makes me want to buy the game.. but I won't. I don't have a PS3 and am not getting one anytime soon.

But good job!

[Light Cloud]

thanks momma bear, i always hate it when reviews tell you their opinion as though its the be all end all in gaming news, but people like and dislike different things, so i try and look at games from the perspective of : What did the developer see in this game that they spent their time working and creating it.

i try to write reviews keeping as open as i can to what people can expect out of the game and what type of person might be the one who likes it.

i think this is the first time i wrote a review saying i liked it so many times though

Awesome review, loved reading it . Wouldnt mind trying Lair out, saw it cheap in a game store too

+karma

[gekkostate]

Hmmm, While waiting through this PS3 game drought. I think I might buy a copy. I've had my eyes on it since launch but never thought of actually buying it on release.

[clementlee]

Is the controls really bad as most reviewers had said upon playing the game
I was very interested in this whole dragon and fireballing other dragon but all that negative comments really put me off buying it. But if it is not as bad as they put it out to be, i might still buy it seeing how the price for this game isnt that expensive anymore

[gekkostate]

Well a classmate of mine who also owns a PS3 said it wasnt worth buying, apparantly he had a copy and sold it off the day after he got it. Guess its not worth bothering with.

[Tilted92]

I didn't like the game all that much. The SixAxis features were kinda cool, but I thought the controls were a little clunky. That is a really nice review, tho.

[tds]

yeah its a tough game to get used to, its decently fun, but its a single player rpg, but not really rpg...since you dont really gain levels or anything...cool storyline and fun though. I recommend renting it.

as for the reviews, this one stated it as unplayable, which it is not. this one I remember said he gave up on a certain level (the one with the huge bridge, about....the 4-7th? in between those) and thats when I was still a total nub at lair, and I was flying not knowing what the eff to do, and I STILL won. I think the level is unlosable actually, like designed that way since it took me a half hour to get the hang of flying. I still won