Sony had a pioneering spirit when it came to the PlayStation 3. Instead of having their games put into DVDs, as Microsoft did, Sony had their PS3 games put into Blu-Ray discs, producing better visuals and the ability to ship out larger games, per Recordhead and Whathifi.
While Microsoft's Xbox 360 had wired and wireless versions of its controller, Sony's PlayStation 3 comes with a wireless DualShock controller that can be plugged into the gaming console at will using a USB-A cable to charge its battery, turning it into a hybrid between the two controller types.
Thanks to this technology, the PlayStation 3 can run games that emphasize detecting the wireless controller's motion.
One such game that heavily uses this PS3 feature is Lair, a game way ahead of its time.
Lair History, Gameplay
Lair is an action-adventure game from Factor 5 published by Sony for the PS3 in 2007. The game features the story of Rohn Partridge, a member of the dragon-riding Sky Guard of Alysia, a theocratic kingdom built on one of the last fertile places in the world.
During the game, Rohn discovers much about his fellow Aslyians and their cultural counterpart, the Mokai, who come from less bountiful places and are heavily versed in science.
While the game's plot is as generic as ever, its gameplay is not. Lair is one of the few games that utilized the PS3's wireless controller and its motion controls, allowing the player to feel like they're riding a dragon through its unique control scheme.
Using wireless motion controls, players can navigate their dragon in the skies, allowing them to make their dragon turn, pull up, dash, and even flip mid-air. These controls are important as most of the game is focused on aerial combat, which means breathing fire and shooting fireballs at enemy dragon riders.
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The game also has a few stealth and flight-focused missions here and there, allowing you to push your dragon-riding skills to the limit.
Dragons are not the only ones going into combat. As a Sky Guard dragon rider, Rohn can engage enemies by going on the melee mid-air through quick-time events. These events allow Rohn to kill enemy dragon riders and their mounts for good if the proper prompt is pressed.
Additionally, players can engage and be engaged in grapple fights with enemy dragon riders. These grapples happen while both dragons fall out of the sky, with the dragons facing each other in melee combat.
Lastly, players can also have their dragons land and deal damage to land-based enemies such as soldiers and siege engines. However, less exciting than facing enemy dragons.
Critical Reception And Eventual Fate
While the game is fun, most if not all, of the game's players, complained about the game's overreliance on its wireless controls, which are faulty, oftentimes. It doesn't help that the game has levels that require precision while in flight, providing even more stress to the players and making the game less and less fun by the minute. Because of this flaw, many critics and players game gave bad to average reviews of the game, with IGN rating it 4.9/10 and Gamespot giving it two stars out of a possible five.
Metacritic gave the game a critic score of 53 based on 55 critic reviews and a user score of 6.2 based on 248 ratings.
Factor 5 did provide an alternate control scheme and even crosshairs for the game, allowing players to control their dragon using the DualShock controllers' joysticks. However, this fix came too late for the game and eventually became one of the worst games on the PS3, per Den of Geek.
Despite the game's poor performance, many critics praised the game's soundtrack and score, which was made by John Cardon Debney of "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Princess Diaries" fame, per IMDb.
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