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Review: Lair for the PS3
First the good, then the really bad.
First off, the game itself is beautiful. The scene and graphics rendering and the best that I've seen in a video game in a while. Voice acting is also incredible; the actors really sound like they're into their part with this and give a sense of being to each character, especially during the cutscenes. Then there's the soundtrack. Good Lord, is the music good on this, defiinitely suitable for the game and fully orchestrated too, which is a plus.
Now the bad. The one thing that sends this game to its grave is its control scheme, namely, the SixAxis. If you could control the game with the Analog Sticks instead, this wouldn't be an issue. However, you're forced to use the SixAxis controller for flight. Many of the maneuvers are next to impossible to perform with the control setup. Example: the 180 turn. Theoretically, you're supposed to flip the controller upward and you'll do a 180 degree turn. I've done this three, maybe four times out of fifty attempts. The accuracy and precision of the SixAxis isn't great enough to make any good use in Lair, and as a result, makes the game very frustrating and stressful after a very short time.
The gameplay is also very clumsy. Trying to pick enemies apart from friendlies becomes excruciatingly difficult when the skies become cluttered. This is where "Rage Vision" comes in. By holding the Down button on the D-pad, everything is seen from the dragon's perspective, in black and white, while hostiles glow red. This actually helps a great deal, however, hitting exactly what you want is even more difficult. The Lock On system in Lair is twitchy at best, and you're never really sure what you're locking on to at any given time. Example: I've got an Ice Dragon coming straight me from a distance. I use the L1/R1 buttons to lock on to it, but instead, it locks onto another dragon in my peripheral. So I end up getting nailed by the dragon straight ahead, and missing the dragon in my peripheral.
Overall, this game would be an excellent addition to anyone's PS3 library were it not weighed down by it crappy controls, which are so painful that they could send even the most die-hard masochist crying home to mom.
This game gets Two balls of fire out of Five.  
Oh, well. At least there's Heavenly Sword to look forward to!
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