Courtesy of Three Speech reader and regular contributor Tom Eccles.
After reading what various game review sites and magazines thought about L.A.I.R, I was really looking forward to getting my hands on it. You take the role of Rohn, who rides a veracious dragon defending the skies for the Asylian civilisation – currently at war with the Mokai. The game involves fierce air combat with other dragons, as well as ground fights with enemy soldiers.
The first level of the game is a basic training exercise – like something on a flight simulator. Guided by another warrior you fly up, down and through hoops. You get the idea. Then you get your first taste of combat with another dragon. It’s not very exciting, but it introduces you to the scene and controls so it’s worth going through.
Talking of controls, L.A.I.R’s can be quite complicated. For what should be a simple game, Factor 5 put in some fairly complex controls which will probably take some getting used to. The easy part is moving – simply tilt the Sixaxis in the way you want the dragon to move, then tapping X speeds you up while L2 or / and R2 will put on the ‘brakes’. To target an enemy dragon (or an enemy object; i.e. a catapult) you hold either L1 or L2 until you see a red glow around it – then you can press square to send balls of fire, or circle to swing in and physically ‘attack’ them. After this, things get complicated – you sometimes enter a mode where the two dragons latch onto each other and fight, giving you the option of biting or breathing fire over the enemy. Other times, you enter a mode where you have to line up your dragon with the other before you can attack, and I have yet to be successful in doing this.
One of my favourite parts of the game is landing on the ground and ripping through crowds of enemy infantry. To land you have to fly close to the ground and hit L2 and R2 – after which you can run around on the ground. You can breathe fire onto the Mokai troops or simply hit them with your dragon’s claws. You can even swoop down, pick a soldier up and drop him to his death over the sea. During the game you will not only meet enemy dragons and soldiers, but also rhinos and other weird creatures. In game, often in the parts with big armies, you have a bar at the top telling you who is winning - sort of like a set of scales. The massive battle scenes are definitely one of the best parts to L.A.I.R..
L.A.I.R’s full 1080p graphics look great, the water movement is extremely realistic, the enemy dragons look great and the sky is beautiful. One thing that looks especially good is the lightning during dark scenes, where the sea and any other dragons in the sky get lit up in the flash. Its lighting is fantastic, and you’ll definitely be impressed when you’re flying through the skies. The game runs at 30 frames per second - however when you do actions that require quite a lot of power, or there are lots of dragons on screen, it goes down which is disappointing. Despite that, the game does look great and swooping down onto a mass crowd of infantry is a joy.
i never realised it was L.A.I.R….just thought it was Lair…so what does L.A.I.R. stand for?
Comment by metallicorphan — Aug 21, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
@1:
It relates to Sony’s releaseing schedule,
Laconic. And. Idiotic. Release.dates….
Hehe…
Comment by Chimpboy — Aug 21, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
Great review Tom!
Perhaps the developers will improve the frame rate before release. Apparently this is often one of the last things to be worked on in a game.
Comment by reakt — Aug 21, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
I’m very looking forward to it’s release.
Comment by Shanie — Aug 21, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
Does your character still do the annoying commentary thing eg “I’m gonna burn your flesh!” and “Fly towards the castle men” etc?, on a few demos I’ve seen he endlessly chatters and it detracted from the game.
Comment by Ton Capone — Aug 21, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
Great review Tom!
The copy you reviewed is complete? With all the missions?
Comment by Omaesan — Aug 21, 2007 @ 3:57 pm
LAIR just got a 5.0 out of 10 from PSM!
So it can’t be that good.
…and Warhawk got a 6.5!
It’s kind of sad that with only a few good games in the PS3 library that the 1st party games suck.
Hopefully the upcoming 1st party games don’t!
I have my PS3 since 2 months and still haven’t buy one game cause there’s none killer app out, yet!
Comment by zwirdsch — Aug 21, 2007 @ 5:10 pm
Great write-up Tom! Look forward to playing it soon
Comment by Timeless — Aug 21, 2007 @ 5:46 pm
You dismiss 2 games based on a single review.
No wonder you dont have any games, because you dont have a mind of your own.
Sell your system, you dont deserve to be around when the software releases pick up.
Comment by So Idiot — Aug 21, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
Why not just give us the option of normal stick controls? I don’t want to be forced into using the motion controls. I think EGM also gave LAIR a 5.5/10. That plus the 5.0/10 from PSM doesn’t look too promising.
Comment by Caleb 117 — Aug 21, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
@ zwirdsch - Theres no way Warhawk deserves that score, its a fantastic game… thats way off. Don’t really think Lair deserves 5 either…
Comment by Tom Eccles — Aug 21, 2007 @ 6:11 pm
reviews from magazines lately have been utter shite who would give warhawk lower then a 8!!
Comment by James — Aug 21, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
yes don’t believe any publication that gives Warhawk only a 6.5/10. Believe me it deserves MUCH better then that. I am also looking forward to Lair. The game looks great Sony.
Comment by Matt — Aug 21, 2007 @ 7:33 pm
I didn’t know that people get so upset about my comment but it isn’t my fault those games got those reviews (also look for other reviews for these games!).
Just wanted to say you could expect more from 1st party games.
Surely I will test those games like I’ve tested e.g. Motorstorm or Resistance, all good games but no killer app.
The only game I will by for sure is PES 2008…and maybe then R&C, EoJ or Haze… we’ll see won’t give up my hopes
Comment by zwirdsch — Aug 21, 2007 @ 8:56 pm
Thanks for the review Tom. It would be great if we are not forced to use the Sixaxis controller. I hope Factor5 removes that restriction before release. I think they had enough feedback about how hard the controls are and if they are not listening, then their game is not for me. I did not care much for the lack of maps in the game although its quite useful to have them. As for the bad reviews, its obvious that people will give bad reviews to a game that they can’t control easily. All Factor5 needs to do is add support to regular analog controls and the game will get a freakin 8/10 or 9/10. Not that reviews matter to me, but when a dedicated magazine like PSM gives Lair a bad review, that has to raise eyebrows.
Comment by Moh — Aug 21, 2007 @ 10:22 pm
[…] August 21, 2007 Posted by Mohammad in Lair, Factor 5, PS3, Video Games. trackback What went wrong?? A game that has been in development for so long. It has been delayed severaltimes and everything you hear it about it is so confusing. The music is awesome (check the music here and here). The story line has all the success factors needed. Everyone who played the game says that the story is an Epic. The graphics, the lighting, and the effects are all looking good. So whats the F***ing problem? The controls. Everyone who tried the game says that its really hard to control (even Sony’s ThreeSpeech said the controls are hard). Kotaku wrote this today Lair developer Eggebrecht suggested that developers take those suggestions from hardcore users “with a grain of salt” citing Factor 5’s inference that the hardcore “seem to somehow resent the idea that motion control is the next evolution, or one of the evolutions, where video games will go.” With the hardcore gamer “bashing in our heads” over the use of the SIXAXIS motion detection as the primary control method for the game’s dragon flight, it might seem like Eggebrecht ignored player feedback. […]
Pingback by Lair reviews!! « Brain Hash — Aug 21, 2007 @ 11:17 pm
I think many mags are pissed at sony because sony has pulled off of a lot of them. specially PSM cause sony doesn’t want to do any more demo disc. and why would you trust PSM’s oppinion about warhawk when you can go to just about any website and see the opposite oppinion.
Comment by NDGO — Aug 22, 2007 @ 1:54 am
Is it possible to get off the Dragon?
Comment by dbarrade — Aug 22, 2007 @ 4:17 am
Ya really you gusy shouldnt get mad at the messenger. It’s not his fault that game reviewer’s are not liking those game’s. Blaming PSM for giving them a bad review because sony doesnt give them disc’s?? are you serious i am sory to say but it isnt just PSM that didnt like liar and warhawk its EGM and IGN also i know it’s kinda hard to take when the PS3 really need’s some good game’s. On the bright side heavenly sword just got 100/100 from play and another really good score from another site(dont remember which offhand) beside’s while sony does have some decent title’s coming this year i really think 2008 is the year when the PS3 comes into its own and beats up the competition =)
Comment by danoo — Aug 22, 2007 @ 7:14 am
the frame rate drops! this is the main problem with the game everything is superb!
Comment by thesilent85 — Aug 22, 2007 @ 7:50 am
All these comments prove precisely how the whole PS3 launch and games availability has gone so far…It’s been a disaster!
Magazines are being alienated. Developers are worried and are siding with Microsoft/PC instead. Retailers are complaining the console is too expensive - Sony are not helping by keeping the UK/European price up and playing a very dirty trick in the US with the models.
While gamers are bewildered why they have such a powerful beast sitting under their televisions (that some probably bought especially for the PS3 to enjoy its full visual glory), but there’s next to no decent games out for it.
And the fact that every single game (even if it’s any good like I’m sure, at least, Warhawk is) gets debated to death, simply shows that Sony has caused so much frustration with its delayed UK/European release, so much dismay because of the lack of constant good titles and so much disappointment as their position in the current race slips (and rightly so) to third place.
The problem Sony has is that Microsoft has lined up the XBox360 very closely with PC games, so translation between the two units has been made very easy for developers. So whatever game comes out for PC, it’s either out for XBox360 immediately or follows soon after, with very little focus on PS3 and none for Wii; there’s even rumours abound that developers are not classing the Wii as a nexgen console!
Having so many games (and I grant you some are potentially crap) for Xbox360 means there’s more choice on the shelves and means there’s more diversity but the PS3 sadly lacks and badly needs this…NOW!
I’m an avid PlayStation fan and have been so since the PS1 (I don’t own and have never owned any MS or Nintendo games device), but I cannot justify purchasing the PS3 at its current extortionate price in UK/Europe nor with the little choice of online/offline games available and like many others like me, I don’t have the home equipment for BluRay films either, so again that makes it a non-starter.
I don’t know if the XBox360 user base figures can be reached or not, but I can predict that it won’t be Sony that will beat them (not at the current price anyway)…it might just yet be Nintendo!
Comment by Zed Zee — Aug 22, 2007 @ 9:10 am
well im not worried about the frame rate cause factor 5 handed out those versions saying that they knew about the problems with the frame rate and were fixing it
also im not worried about the warhawk thing either. cause the guy from psm who reviewed it had just got a job there from an xbox mag and everything he wrote in the mag bout the ps3 was bad
Comment by templar648 — Aug 22, 2007 @ 10:55 am
Liar looks mighty interesting. One reason why I have chosen the PS3 over the Xbox 3360 as a PC gamer is that Sony offers typical console games while nearly every Xbox 360 game is a PC game that has been ported to the Xbox 360.
With Lair, Heavenly Sword, R&C Future, Drake’s Fortune and WipEout HD I’ll be playing typical console games while I can get typical PC games like Crysis, Bioshock, Quake Wars and Half Life 2 Orange Box for my PC.
PS3 + PC = Best of both worlds and I like challenging games. Motion control just takes skill and some more time to learn. Giving a game a low score because you suck at it and refuse to adept is pretty weak. That is why they have to release a demo of some sorts.
Comment by Bob — Aug 22, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
hard to stomach that Warhawk review. I was the beta. It’s one of the best console multiplayers i’ve played. I hope word of mouth on this game limits the impact of this puzzling review.
Comment by VirginiaSlim — Aug 22, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
Brian Hash brings up Kotaku’s statement, and it has merrit. Motion controls are going to be a large part of the user involvement with these new systems, including the 360 (willing to be they will join in this user interface as well). L.a.i.r. might get some bad press for requiring its use, but the technology will have a difficult time becoming common and comfortable unless a game steps up to force it. I hope enough people pick up L.a.i.r. to become used to such controls, because a bevy of new options will open up for developers when they are no longer restricted by the learning curve.
Comment by Wes Lydon — Aug 22, 2007 @ 11:19 pm
lolololol
Comment by Mike — Sep 12, 2007 @ 5:02 pm
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