I've been playing Warhawk for what... about 6 mos now it feels (beta)... Last week, I rented (and quickly returned, after performing a rite of exorcism over it in vein) Lair. I'm currently suing the rentals place for not warning me that this game might suck...

I think someone at GI said it best that a dragon that performs this badly would be relegated to tricks at the bar, and begging for scraps. What it DID have though, was a single player campaign, and a decent story line at that, as well as some innovative levels (that could have supplemented the.. umm.. 5... in warhawk), and some decent voice acting and scene creation. Mix in a healthy dose of fantasy and you round out an almost good experience. BUT, with the control scheme making me sometimes dash forward, sometimes u-turn, sometimes cough up a smurf, as well as a fighting system feeling like I'm only pressing two buttons to make things die, and a glitchy mission tracking system (there ARE NO MORE FREAKING TORROS ON THE BRIDGE you jackhole burner), this game suffers some of the most inexcusable breaks in a game system... heck, superman 64 was better than this in some spots... (ok, that was too far, I'm sorry).

Then I get into warhawk again, which I think has a wildly playable experience. Great structure, well balanced game play, and a lot of team work opportunities. But, when I don't want to play against anyone, and just get through a short play of something, I can never reach for Warhawk, because it requires too much time and attention. Instead, I've found myself playing "just another scene" in Stuntman Ignition (legendary 35 bitches...) and wondering why I never see any of my clan online... Why aren't these two one game, remove the mandatory sixaxis, replace the dragons with warhawks and nemesis... these would have been one GREAT game, better controlled, better (heck, any) solo length... lots of stuff... and I'd even go so far as to bet they would have doubled the sales attributed to BOTH these games.

Am I naive? Yup, you bet, I'm sure there are a lot of dissenters, who would say, no, each game needed to be it's own game... they each are unique... yeah, sure, they definitely are... but a combination would have made them original...