Sony downplays Lair critics

That reply was for Dave, freakin Joystiq, lol

I picked it up from gamestop thinking I was probably going to return it in a day or two, but lo and behold, my suspicions were right..... The reviewers opinions are just that, their opinions. Mine is a different experience, I was able to completely adapt to the motion controls within the very first mission and have been loving the game ever since.

I won't lie and say it's an easy game, but it's very fun to play(when you are willing to give the motion controls a chance) I've also stumbled upon the idea that a lot of the people who are complaining about the motion controls especially those who complain about the targeting, are not playing the game with the story and setting in mind, you're in the middle of a war, I love that it has the "much-complained-about auto-aim feature" because if it weren't for that, you would spend countless minutes/maybe hours, just trying to manually line up a shot on each dragon in the air(and there are too many dragons for this. people also forget that you can glide and hover, I have had a lot of fun just chasing down packs of dragons flying in formations of 4 or 5, so when I read the reviewers complaints about the bridge mission where you had to pick up the creatures of the bridge, the one where they complain about the auto-aim targeting the towers instead, i realized while playing the game where they were going wrong. Which brings me to the next thing about the auto aim.....

.....The lock on will not pick anything that is not in your field of vision.....

With that said, whenever you play through that mission, it makes perfect sense that you would get close enough to the bridge, glide in and just have the creatures(on the bridge) in your field of vision(remember you can also hover - why no-one seems to remember or mention this makes no sense to me) like any game, you have to pick your moments(and it makes even more sense that one would think of taking out the towers first) when playing large scale battles, if you just glide in, get close and then hit the lock on, you'll get the creatures every time, i did that and got them all on my first try.

Has anyone even mentioned how great a job the developers did at throwing you in a chaotic battle? I mean, sometimes, no-one is chasing you trying to blow you out of the sky, and other times, it seems the flames are coming from all angles, if you land and start taking out the ground troops, you can't do it for too long before the enemy a.i. notices and comes after you in full force. This plays out like a really great war game, you have to play it like the game it is, this is not ace combat, this is not a flight sim. This is a war game - yes - but you're flying around on dragons, the controls are damn near perfect and anyone who wants to say "well that means they are not perfect" point me towards a wii game with totally perfect motion controls.

This game is like 'Advent Rising' all over again. Everyone was singing it's praises prior to release, then the very week it was set to release, everyone wanted to change their tone..... and all because most people are too rigid to ever want to get used to a simple change in anything - especially control mechanics in the games they like.

My point is, just like with 'Advent Rising', the developer here, has challenged you with a subtle change in a control scheme many of you are so used to only having one way, and your inability to adapt and your pride that keeps you from admitting you don't want to adapt, are the only things keeping you from enjoying this game.

And to all the fanboys out there:
I would like to point out that I am not a fanboy of any one console, I had the Original NES and SNES, Dreamcast, PS1, PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PSP, and I am a proud owner of A 360 and a PS3(Infact I bought the 360 at launch and waited on the PS3) I even bought a wii, and had for about 3 weeks before I decided it would never get nearly enough playtime out of me to warrant me keeping it.

Motion controls just don't function well with games not centered around them. Even the Wii games have spotty response most of the time (yes, even in MP3). If motion controls were perfect, they would be a lot of fun (even if they are inefficient).

Lair looked really pretty, but the premise of the gameplay didn't seem all that enthralling. I'm glad the Gamestop employees couldn't convince me to reserve it after reading the reviews. Maybe Lair's is great to a console that's desperate for games, but overall, not so much?

*PS3 weeps waiting for FFXIII*

Yeah! Who gives a damn if the game is shitty! As long as enough people get suckered into buying it, we can tout big sales for it and say it was a massive success!

This is reason #951 not to buy a PS3.

The Game stinks... Stop trying to justify your purchase. And that goes for the Majority of Lair owners.

Funny how it got bad reviews and now it's 'critics don't matter that much'. Had it gotten stellar reviews the scores and quotes would've been pasted somewhere on the game case cover eventually. Then Jack Tretton would've referred to the reviews when asked by an interviewer when the good games are coming. iLOLz.

"If you demand presicion motion controls are simply a slap in the face."

Show me a console FPS on the market right now with better precision than Metroid Prime 3. Go on, don't be shy.

Can't do it? That's because you're a troll.

I'll tell you what makes you a tool. Blindly purchasing a game based on hype alone. So you are telling me that i should not use reviews as a purchasing tool? That i should just but the game and cross my fingers? Listen, if 20 reviewers tell me that a game is crap, i will stay clear of that game. If you want to blow 60 bucks to come up with your own conclusion, go right ahead.

I agree with people who buy high rated games only. I am one of them. For my son it's different, but for me I've been playing since Coleco vision days. So for me to go and spend 60$ on a new game, and get Choppy frame rate, lousy controls, and a 6-8 hour game with NO MULTIPLAYER. HA yeah right. There are reasons as to so many of us buy guys that are rated to their liking. I don't buy many games for myself any more, but the ones I do buy better get a 8 or above if not its not worth other than a USED bargain sale 1 year later for 10$ or less.

i don't buy into hype either. everyone hyped GoW and I, Personally, was disappointed.

Buying cause of the hype is actually worse than buying based on reviews.

If any good comes out of this, it will be that games in the future will have motion control schemes as an OPTION, not as a mandatory setup.

I mean, by most reviews and videos I've seen, LAIR looks kinda fun, but by all accounts the SIXAXIS controls are BROKEN. Unless a game can ONLY be effectively controlled with a motion scheme, dual analogs should ALWAYS be an option. This goes for Wii titles too.

Controls are the most important part of a game. If you can't effectively play it, not much matters, does it?

http://www.xboxlc.com/profile/xFenixKnightx

did people expect sony to say something like "yeah, lair turned out to be a piece of shit, but we hyped it up enough that people will buy it anyway"

I love seeing these flames and bad reviews from people who haven't played the game.

I probably wouldn't have bought Lair if I didn't play it beforehand at Lollapalooza. That's why Sony needs to get a demo out, so people can try it for themselves. Maybe that firmware update this week was needed first, but I've noticed no control changes in Lair.

I agree with the previous comments in this thread. The controls are a bit hard to get used to, and the frequent cut-scenes are annoying. Lock on isn't a big deal to me, since I usually have to find what I'm trying to destroy anyway.

If they do a Lair 2, they should switch to an objective-based system, kind of like in jet combat games, where you have a main objective and a few secondary ones.

Still I enjoy Lair, and that's not just to justify my purchase. It's challenging, fun and looks and sounds awesome. Maybe some gamers will think better of it once it's not priced so high.

Yeah a lot of people are taking the reviewers opinions the wrong way. They have to look at the game from a technical standpoint as well as fun...So if the controls suck, the controls suck. They complained about alot of things but their job is not to wanna like the game...lol...If you own a PS3 and buy a game u wanna try to enjoy it correct...So I believe the reviewers cuz when I played Lair I spent 15 minutes on the first stage tryin to learn how to do 180's...Not saying that Lair is as bad as they say cuz I haven't played the whole game...So hey maybe once you get the learning curve the game is enjoyable...I wont say Lair is bad but if the roles were reveresed and the game got great reviews the Sony boys would be living...So since the game got bad reviews why don't u guys see what the hell went wrong and quit jumping on the reviewers backs because they gave one of Sony's AA titles a bad review

Much of my decision on whether to purchase a Ps3 rested on this game and Heavenly Sword, so I am in a pickle. I don't know whether to believe the reviews, but alot of my Ps3 owning friends are telling me this game sucks.

Just a thought, but this game would have been cooler if it was analog controls, and the style was more steam punk mixed with Crimson Skies like combat. The fantasy genre is getting almost as tired as WW2.

Apparently Lair wasn't made for the critics. Just like the movie Jersey Girl, eh?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/24

I can understand why Lair was made with motion controls, but I can't understand why Warhawk uses motion controls. Most *real* military airplanes and helicopters are controlled by a joystick, therefore Warhawk should be controlled with an analog stick. But Dragons don't have joysticks growing out of their backs, so motions controls fit Liar better than Warhawk.

So, an analog stick is more realistic of flying a military aircraft, while motion controls are more realistic of flying a Dragon (well, as realistic as flying a mythical beast could be).

this is kinda like the new superman game, it sucks total ass and is a bomb, yet still has decent sales due to hype

Note [with dead moth] found by SONY beancounter in empty cash register: "must* listen* to* gamer* feedback* you* %*##*@* stupidheads*!!". lol

It opened in 8th place with 92,000 in sells, which was 15,000 less than the retail version of Warhawk. I believe the consumers have spoken and told sony and factor 5 to go fuck themselves.

Lair sucks. It was one of the games I was really anticipating but it sucks horribly. I had a 360 and quite frankly I'm selling my PS3 and going back to my 360 because it was 10x more fun than this Piece of Shit 3.

I honestly don't know why people are complaining so much about the motion controls. Almost all Wii games are like this and get excellent reviews. Plus, the controls are actually pretty spot-on and respond to the actions you are telling it to do. I beat the game with no problem. The graphics are top of the line. These are the most realistic looking dragons thus far in any game. My only complaint would not be the controls although the developer should have allowed that option to people who prefer that but that the game ends rather quickly and is fairly easy. Also, there is no FINAL boss like in most other games. However, saying all this I would give this game an 8.5 out of 10 with 10 being perfect not the below 5 some websites gave this game. I just don't see what the fuss is all about.