• Posted September 3rd, 2007 at 13:29 EDT by
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• 63 Comments

Review Score

Lair

PSU Review Score

8.5

Avg. user review score:

7.5

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Summary

Lair is definitely a stupendous game with astonishing gameplay, beautiful graphics, and a soothing soundtrack. The only thing that dents Lair from becoming all that it potentially could have been is definitely the temperate replayability that arises from the linear gameplay. Despite all these issues, the game inculcates a sense of visceral excitement to anyone who gets his/her hands on it.

We like

• Unparalleled graphics
• Astonishing storyline and incredible soundtrack
• Great Sixaxis controls and precision aiming

We dislike

• Linear gameplay makes for a slight tease
• FMV's instead of live real-time cinematics
• Moderate replayability

See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings

Dragon’s seem scary. At least, they seemed that way according to mythical stories of fire breathing giants, known only for their plight and destruction upon the different human civilizations of the middle ages. The dragons in Lair, however, are different. Looking pleasing with stunning visuals and some clever uses of the Sixaxis controller, Lair sets the mark for the best dragon oriented game of all time and underscores an important factor of realism that past games failed to achieve. So, get on your dragon and let’s take a ride together in the kingdom of Asylia.

Lair is a game where the story is nothing short of fantastic. The world was once peaceful, and everyone was united. But soon the peace was taken away when volcanoes began to erupt, threatening the lands of the Mokai. The Asylian civilization was protected from the hazardous lava spews by mountains, endangering the Mokai instead, a culture that primarily advocated change through new theologies that seated on the natural disaster in respects to their two facets: envy and war. It was commonly thought that the group that controlled the skies would be the world’s owners. The Asylians, as a response to this threat, mounted their dragons and sorted all their soldiers together in a brawny defense to protect their land from invasions.

Lair makes you battle large mantas, huge wasps, and dozens of diverse dragons in brilliant 1080p resolution, which requires you to use Sixaxis controls to navigate your creature through the skies. With Lair, players will be asked to take a stand in Ayslian leadership and make decisions based on what they discover--- even if such decisions mean turning a blind eye to one’s own homeland.

The firs scene slowly takes you into a stunning cathedral dome. You can smell the sweat from the anxious sky guard's---some new, and coal from the fire's ashes. "We will not falter!" The priestly figure is giving a sermon to prepare us for the oncoming Mokai. This is where we were introduced to Rohn, Lair's main character. Rohn is a dragon-riding knight serving the kingdom of Asylia, which falls under attack of the Mokai, and it’s up to you to save it.

The scene cuts, and you run outside to mount your dragon. There is a slight sense of nervous excitement---one that would make the plague seems jolly. Everyone is a bit scared---the entire Aslyian civilization depends on you and the other guards. Suddenly swooping above the skies, you are looking down on the battlefield. As you smell ash and smoke coming from the residue of fire from another dragon, the first thing you must do is get used to the control. To flap the wings--and fly forward--you tap the X button, and tilting the Sixaxis controls steering, and one thing to note is the sticks are used for camera control. To shoot flames at enemies, you tap the square button. In the first level, we have to destroy the catapults firing from the Mokai ships that are attacking our main base.

The Sixaxis controls are a wonderful method for controlling flight. The controls lagged once, but generally speaking, there are no noticeable issues. Sixaxis determines how your dragon will manoeuvre: tilting up will cause the dragon to shoot up, tilting it down will cause you to dive, tilting left and right will allow you to bank in that direction. A sort of a Sixaxis jerk allows for a 180-degree turn, but that only works some of the time or responds a bit too slowly. Other commands, used with the Sixaxis control scheme, are L2 and R2 to hover, and the X button to perform ranged attacks in addition to grapple. Across the game, an onscreen prompt appears appropriately and will have you delve into an attack. Follow the button prompts and you can claw, and send out a fireball at close range. At specific points in the game, when you feel the moment is right, Rohn will dive from the back of his mount, land on another dragon, stab the rider and then kill the dragon and dive off like James Bond of Dragons, all to be swooped up in by his own dragon.

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