I will get this out of the way right at the beginning: Lair is not good. It is a disappointment that it comes from the same developer of the brilliant Rogue Squadron series, Factor 5. Lair has good pedigree, so where did it go wrong? It’s a chore to play, sometimes not much to look at, and always abrupt and disconnected in its story telling. It had me trying to rationalize my own playing of the game by telling myself that it might get better.

However, contrary to what many think, the motion controls are not the issue. The learning curve for the controls is a bit steep; I even found that I had to change my posture from my normal recline to a more attentive, steady position. But by the end of the first level (a ring flying exercise right out of Superman 64), I wondered what everyone was complaining about. Then I actually had to make the dragon do something more then circus tricks.

The real culprit here is the execution of the game itself, not the way you move your dragon through the air. The combat is disjointed, as too often, enemy encounters are split up by cut scenes. Being movie-like in quality is fine, but let me do a few things before changing the camera angle on me. And even when an engagement goes from beginning to end without an interrupting movie, it is still just a button-mash and a bit of luck away from being over.

In the name of immersion, Factor 5 eliminated such conventions as radar, the ability to choose which target to lock on to, and an arrow to guide you towards objectives. There is bit of direction, provided from the HUD, about where to go next, but I would have killed for some old fashioned dots on a screen to show me who to shoot next. Yes, it wouldn’t have been Middle Ages-appropriate, but it works and keeps me from flying in circles looking for the last wind dragon that will end the mission, even though there are dozens of other things to kill.

I remember seeing this game shown off a few years ago as a showcase of the PS3’s graphical prowess. Unfortunately, the look of the game has not changed much since. The range from good to bad here is huge: the dragons look great, the environments look good, the water effects look bad, and the explosions when a monster dies look horrible. The boats look nice and detailed, but when they explode it reminded me of Mortal Kombat II fatalities, lots of small pieces bouncing around. The tiny soldiers that your dragon munches on look equally bad, lacking the detail that was lavished on your character model. It is terribly obvious where time was spent and where it wasn’t, and very jarring when they are seen together.

The story held promise. A tale of one civilization torn in two by volcanoes, religious wars, power hungry despots and general bad behavior may not be original, but it moves along just fine. In a better game, told with more subtlety, it could have been good. Instead, it is broken up by bad end-of-level cuts and missions that don’t seem to have much to do with one another. Towards the ends there is a prison break level that looks very cool, but where in then narrative does it fit? Where in the world does it fit, floating in space? Tell me why and where, and then I will care more.

The entire game ends up being a ‘could have.’ I should not have to make excuses to myself or anyone else for a game’s shortcomings. I finished it, but mostly out of spite, and a longing for a good Star Wars flight sim (and because writing a review on half of a game is not very honest). Lair is not good, but it is not a condemnation of Sixaxis controls or the system as a whole. It does a good enough job of being bad on its own.