Lair Preview

LAIR has been around for a long time. It was one of the first games to be announced for the PlayStation 3 and it has understandably gained a lot of fan support and hype. Any game that's made by Factor5, the guys behind the Rogue Squadron series, that features dragons fighting each other in mid-air fire-fights gets the attention of the average gamer pretty quickly. With all the hype and the need for LAIR to be a big hit on Sony's newest console the stage is set for a disaster of monstrous proportions, but I'm happy to report that this fantasy action game could be the most exciting game the PS3 sees this year.

While still a work in progress, the numerous levels I played of LAIR point towards a very strong final product. A training level gets you up to speed with the ins and outs of flying a dragon, and thankfully it's pretty simple stuff. Controlled entirely with the motion control of the Sixaxis, tilting controls your dragon's pitching and banking, as if you're in control of a plane. It works surprisingly well, with the dragon's animal nature allowing for less precision than you'd expect from a finely tuned aircraft.

Various other aerial manoeuvres are carried out by a simple push and shove of the controller; a 180 turn for example is performed by a simple upwards shove of the Sixaxis, allowing you to turn and face enemies in double quick time. It's all pretty intuitive stuff, and before too long you wonder what the game would have felt like with bog standard analogue stick controls.

Combat is the other big part of gameplay and your dragon, as has been the case with dragons throughout fantasy history, can breathe fire. A press of the Square button will fire off a pellet of fire, with repeated presses acting almost like a machine gun. Holding down the button will unleash a stream of fire, capable of taking out waves of enemies, but this seems to be more useful when moving across the ground.

One enemy I encountered was a giant sea serpent, hell-bent on eating the slow-moving flying Manta that I had been instructed to protect.

Your dragon can also land, with controls switching to a more common action game set-up. As well as the standard fire attacks, a slash and charge move are both available, with the camera often switching to slow-motion to highlight particularly nasty swipes. The missions I played seemed to offer a good mixture of on-foot and air gameplay, with the choice of which to use often being left up to the player.

Aside from these core areas of combat, LAIR also features some up close and personal stuff. By engaging with other dragons you can enter into a beat-'em-up of sorts, where you can slash, breath fire, block and more. The camera closes in on the action and the two beasts go at it until one falls to his death. Grounded beasts can also be taken on in a similar fashion, with my dragon swooping down to rip the heads off of the rampaging armoured rhinos below.

Larger enemies will also be featured, often as full-blown boss battles. One enemy I encountered was a giant sea serpent, hell-bent on eating the slow-moving flying Manta that I had been instructed to protect. The huge swimming snake moved through the water at an alarming rate, its head continuously moving above and below the water. Other boss battles are likely to be equally grand in scale, with the mythical creatures allowing for a wide array of nasties.

LAIR has divided opinion on message boards over its visuals. Some claim it's the most impressive looking game yet seen on the PS3, while others have gone as far as calling it ugly. The truth is that LAIR is often stunning to look at, with more on-screen than most games dream about. Dragons can be seen swarming all over the place, fire darts through the sky, buildings and ancient structures tower over the landscape and water moves as fluidly as the real thing. With a few months of polish LAIR will undoubtedly be one of the showcase PS3 titles.

Although hard to get a true sense of story, the game will use a mix of in-game cinematics and beautiful CG scenes. Voice acting seems to be at the top of its class too, which should help the game in its strive to be more than another action title. Fellow dragon riders that assist you in the air can also be heard, commenting on the current situation in a way that makes the game world seem more believable.

I had my doubts about LAIR leading up to E3 2007, but the guys at Factor 5 are certainly on the right track. The controls are tight and intuitive, the gameplay is exciting and engaging, and the visuals are coming together very nicely indeed. The PlayStation 3 is in dire need of triple-A titles and LAIR should be one of those when it launches later this year.