![]() Unless you're the sort of person who eagerly buys pewter statues of trolls and dutifully reads books called The Moonsword of Gragarth: Volume XI of the Blood Riders of Ferax Saga, there's not a single element of the game's universe that will feel fresh or enticing. The design and soundtrack, meanwhile, shamelessly strive for the sweeping majesty of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy without ever achieving the same level of emotional honesty or cultural verisimilitude. There's a kingdom torn asunder by civil war, scheming politicians and reams of leaden purple prose that make the Star Wars prequels look like havens of naturalistic dialogue. Lair's storyline follows Rohn, a dragon riding knight, the fighter pilot equivalent of his painfully generic fantasy world. Heck, it's almost identical in concept and intent to Thanatos, the sorely underrated ZX Spectrum game from Durell that did the giant flying dragon thing far better over twenty years ago: chewed-up enemies, sea serpents and all. If you've played Ace Combat, Panzer Dragoon or Crimson Skies then there's little here that you haven't seen before. It's just another uninspired aerial combat game, in which the only innovation comes in the form of motion sensing control. ![]() Find the pattern, repeat until dead.įor all of Eggebrecht's evangelism, Lair is emphatically not "something very different". This sea serpent looks impressive, but acts like every other end of level boss ever. It is, ironically, much like Dragon's Lair - another slender gaming experience that relied on visual impact to distract from its hollow centre. It's all mouth and no trousers, a clumsy and shallow experience that desperately tries to position itself at the start of a console's life as the Future Of Gaming. It's a game full of ugly gameplay lurking behind pretty cutscenes, where visual showboating fails to mask gruesome design decisions. ![]() It is, sadly, the sort of game that encapsulates all that is wrong with console transition periods, that development limbo where Next Gen and Last Gen overlap. Know this much: the slightly wonky control scheme is actually the least of Lair's problems. Sony retaliated by sending out a "reviewers guide" to unimpressed journalists, explaining how to review the game, while Factor 5's Julian Eggebrecht rather patronisingly implored them to "open your mind and hands for something very different!" Much was said about the decision to use the Sixaxis motion sensor for control, with no option for traditional analogue stick control, and most of what was said was very bad indeed. Upon its American release, back in August, Sony's anticipated flappy dragon epic Lair received the sort of critical reception best described as a "drubbing". ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |