Lair - Unbiased Review

I wish I wrote this a little earlier but I just got myself a copy of the game and have played through about 75% of it.  I think this give me enough play time to write a comprehensive review on a title that has been both praised and screwtinized.

My review scale is outlined below and is on a scale of 1 through 10 for 5 categories.  The categories are as follows.

1.  Graphics - Does the tech used in the game achieve the end goal?

2.  Sound - Does the music fit the game?  What tech is used to enrich a quality gaming experience through sound

3.  Gameplay - Overall gaming experience.  Is there is sense of satisfaction playing the game?  This includes the story.

4.  Controls - Does the control scheme fit the title?

5.  Score Intent - This is my take on what type of score that a developer tries to hit with creating the title.  This is way to quantify a potential AA or AAA title.

Graphics -> 8.5

The purpose of a title like Lair is to bring to the table the potential of the hardware that it's on.  Lair is displayed in beautiful 1080p resolution with a focus on macro/micro level design.  Macro/Micro level design is the principle that what you see 1,000 feet above the ground is the same level of detail as if you were standing on the ground.  The Lair dragons fly on levels that are at max 32x32km in size with a average size of 4GB per level.  It begs the question, does it have to be that big?  There is no denying that the levels in Lair are huge with clear distinctions between the level such as hilly areas, snow capped mountains, deserts with large dunes, and populated cities.  All look insanely photorealistic from a far but blurred and heavily aliased up close.  Not a big problem but I appreciate the macro/micro level approach from Factor 5 and did a reasonable job of presenting it well.

The dragons themselves are detailed with lifelike scales, wing textures that look like they come off a diamond viper, and of course fire that look pretty real.  Factor 5 has done a great job in animating these creatures to almost near movielike quality.  One would wonder how close to real (if dragon's were real) it would like if animated in 60 frames per second.  Although there are classifications of dragons specific to both the Mokai and the Asylians, there is a limited color palette to dragons.  Do you really expect purple dragons?  It would be good to expand the color palette slightly for more diverse color classes for these dragons, especially since the landscape can be similar in color to the dragon.

Rohn, the protagonist, of the game is also animated well when on the dragon and during special move animations.  One gripe is that you can't really see the animation of the character up close since all in game cutscenes do not show details on Rohn's fact as clearly as the CGI cut scenes.  Its not totally a big deal since the CGI scenes are done very well.

Sound -> 8.8

What would you expect from the composer of the sound track for the Passion of the Christ?  Encoded in 7.1 surround sound, it is a musical masterpiece.  The score for layer is mood setting and comes in at the right times from the menu screen to the gameplay music.  This is just the musical score.  Hearing the feriocious roar of the dragon in 7.1 sound is unbelievable.  The voicover acting is also well done.  So why not about 9.0?  For one thing, the sound abrutly cuts after the level is complete.  There is hardly a fade out back to the mission select.  This does indeed interupt game flow.  Its also sometimes difficult to hear mission objectives while flying your dragon during missions.

Gameplay -> 6.5

This is where the game takes a nosedive.  Its not 'unplayable' but the jerkiness of the game makes it difficult to get emersed in Lair's large environments.  There isn't a smooth transition between the missions.  Upon completion of a task or tasks, the screen will freeze for a good three seconds.  Now your guess is as good as mine if the sound fades out or also comes to a complete stop.  After the three seconds are up, you are now back on the mission select screen.  The argument is that if this is an epic story, why have a mission select screen?  This is NOT Rogue Squadron.

Although the environments are large, the missions are almost linear making it almost difficult to explore all areas of the level.  Its sandbox without really being sandbox is the best way to describe the level design of Lair.  Levels beautifully rendered in 1080p but action can be so frantic at times that you don't really appreciate its richness.

Controls -> 7.5

Lair took a risk with motion controls.  I think it was a necessary and calculated risk.  What do you gain and loss with motion control.  The gain is easy as you provide the user with a new experience.  What do you lose?  You lose the proven analogue controls.  Is motion control more intuitive for a dragon game.  I think it is.  One problem is the execution of the controls.  There is too much similarity between a dash and 180 turnaround.  Thrust the control forward and you dash.  Pull it back and you do a 180 turn.  If you're one with steady hands, this is easy to grasp.  The problem is that even with steady hands, you can quickly get frustrated when trying to do a 180 turn but end up dashing. 

For the most part the controls work for Lair.  With motion control, I can get to where I need to go.  It's what I do when I get there which is the problem.  There isn't a complex HUD like in Ace Combat to tell me what to do.  I need to be cautious of my surroundings and its quite a challenge to figure out and see my checkpoint locations.

Score Intent -> 9.5

This is what I think Lair was aiming for during pre-production meeetings at Factor 5.  This is an opinionated score based on hype, marketing before launch, and intent of the producer, Julian E.  The aim was high on this one.  Factor 5 wanted 1080p from the get go.  They wanted motion controls and also to be able to lock in their game at 30 fps.  I'm sure they knew that 60 fps at 1080p was almost impossible given the scale of the game.

Final Score: 7.75 (average of graphics, gameplay, sound, and control)

Lair in my opinion scored a 7.75 out of 9.5.  The score intent is the max per item rating.  For example, in the graphics column, they scored an 8.5 out of a max of 9.5.  As a percentage, Lair scored an 81.6% ...