To say that Lair has not received the warmest of welcomes by reviewers is to perhaps put things a tad mildly. A long time in development and the usual make-or-break hype has not done enough to stop people panning Factor 5's big PS3 expedition. Well, people who aren't obsessive Sony fans, of course. Unlike said fans, Factor 5 can at least admit when something sucks, but it seems the developer won't admit its own hand in that suckage.
"That is exactly the kick of creating a first-year game: exploring the not-yet-finished hardware and growing the technology while the hardware is coming together," claimed director Julian Eggebrecht when talking to MTV's GameFile. "I think both Rogue Leader and Lair gave a good stab at poking into the depths of the systems for such early titles, and from that you have a second-generation growth opportunity that surpasses most developers that jump onto the bandwagon later."
Shrugging and practically saying "at least we tried" seems to be the order of the day for Lair, but Eggebrecht was keen to make sure that Factor 5 was as blameless as possible for Lair's less than stellar reviews. In a move that would be hilarious if it wasn't rather pitiful, Eggebrecht claimed that the controls were far too 'casual' for those big, mean hardcore game reviewers who apparently hated Lair because they despise anything with motion control.
"The Sixaxis motion control itself feels a lot more organic and free-form than the rigid controls of other flight games and does much better for casual players, as we saw in focus tests. It does seem to alienate some reviewers who are at the top of the hard-core crowd and seem to have a passionate hate for all things motion." I'm not even commenting on that. Such stupidity speaks for itself.
[Thanks, TheGoldenDonut]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
8:36 AM on 09.05.2007
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Casual gamers apparently equals stoopid fanboys.
What asses. They can't even make this up to me if their next game is a Rogue Squadron title.
hahahaha
A shit game for the least selling console, its all they deserve!
Ok, now I'm done with this.
Hand, face(slap). Face, hand(slap).
Well, the fact that the motion controls suck, is probably a big deal with the reviewers, but I dont think reviewers hate everything motion controlled.
I don't have a source, but Factor 5 was one of the first to lambast (bamlast?) the Wii for being the mage to Xbox's and PS3's warriors in regards to graphical and processing STR. And now, seeing that everyone isn't bedazzled by shiny dragons, they're coping out and saying "Well, its first year, what do you expect?" Come on. Its just a matter of where they put their resources, imo. And they opted for gloss over gameplay.
I say again: I called it.
(I'll temper this by outing myself as a Star Wars/Rogue Squadron fanboy . . . but I still called it)
that would make the game GREAT! because that is all i find wrong with it. oh yeah and let us choose what we want to lock on to with a corsair ..
this should of been common sense for those dudes.. i bought it, and fee; stupid for buying, if they patch it with better controls i will keep it.. if not. i'm selling it..
Heh yeah, the ground stuff in Rebel Strike was pretty garbage. Soon as I saw Lair's ground troops, I knew they hadn't learned nothin :D They survived on the back of that big license, which was the main reason I slogged through that game, and loved it like candy.
One thing I will give them though, is that they made it pretty clear that the cost in developing Lair was really a hit they were taking to develop technology that they could use for all future games. So it that line about being ahead of the curve for a 2nd generation game does make a lot of sense.
I haven't tried Lair yet myself, but I just signed up for Gamefly and it's the first on my list. I'm really curious to see if I'll agree with all the reviews or think they're completely wrong.
Blaiming it on the reviewers is well...sad. Does that mean non-hardcore players can handle Lair?
And didn't Gears of War and Vegas do precisely the same but just better? Also running a new engine on new hardware, but then playable.
If finding my own better opinion of Lair means I'd have to pay too much for a console that will play about 3 games I know I'd be interested in, then yep. I like getting other people's opinions just fine, thanks.
I get you though. I thought Way of the Samurai 1 and 2 were damn awesome, but they got 6's and 5's everywhere. Don't ruin my personal enjoyment, but it calls the rating system of all those sites into question.
Of course, I like samurais like that. meh.
I know what you are thinking: that people may be underestimating it just because it's a PS3 title. Is it possibly you are overestimating it because it's a PS3 title? There are very few games that I enjoyed which got that many low scores. I'd probably GameFly it after all the hype it's received but there are about 20 other games I want to check out first.
I'm going to stick with it, though. It could have potential.
Like you NEVER take a break at work...whether its to smoke, chat with a co-worker about a game or sports or something else during the eight hour work day. Why don't you try being holier than thou somewhere else?
Lair was a boring concept to begin with, it's like it was designed and imagined by a 14 year old boy with no friends, but a rich mummy and daddy who tell him he's the best.
Factor 5 have always been overrated, from their Nintendo days right up to now.
I haven't played any PS3 game, ever, so I can't comment. I do bet that, just like every other PS3 game I've seen on a kiosk, Lair's graphics are slick as hell.
trust me. let me know when you get there. when you have to dodge the spot lights in the caverns is where it starts to fall apart big time. oh its burtal.
As for factor 5, thanks for pointing out that "Casual gamers are too stupid to realize that the controls suck as compared to hard-core gamers that you know.. actually care about stuff like that?"
The last EGM podcast had a fairly lengthy interview with one of the guys from Factor 5 (president I believe). The guy didn't admit any fault, but pretty much said if you don't like the game then you're playing it wrong. Listening to it was actually pretty frustrating and made me even LESS interested in the title.
It's pretty funny to listen to someone passionately talk about how great their game is when their average review score is 61%.
Having played the game, I can say with certainty that the reviews are spot on. However, even if the controls were fluid and responsive, which they are clearly not, the targetting system is the bigger issue for me. Not being able to choose what you target is bullshit and it makes the already repetitive tasks and dull goals even more painful. I gave it about 2 hours before I decided to just drink myself into a stupor instead. The hangover I woke up with the next morning was still not as bad as the pain that Lair caused me.
I hear that game is really popular among Sony's third-party developers.
Games are a bit different from movies. If reviews are saying the controls are broken or the framerate is crap, then that's a bit different than not connecting with a story or not liking a particular actor.
Like I said earlier, I still need to play the game and form my own opinion. However, when reviews are dissing Lair for gameplay mechanics and framerate problems, it does get hard to imagine how they could be wrong.
Of course, it does seem strange how well a game like GTA was scored when I think the game is fundamentally broken when it comes to controls and graphics. So I guess it is still possible that Lair really is a great game and people are being too hard on it.
I didn't demand he change it, I simply asked if would care to. I don't demand people do things which it is not my place to. I'm willing to bet Destructoid gets a fair amount of readership from folks who browse during free time at work... and probably the same people appreciate the fact that at least the editors do take the time to put NSFW tags on posts when there is that sort of content therein. I don't have a problem with the imagery... its simply a convenience thing. Sorry if I pissed in your cheerios. I won't go off topic any longer on this... but if you'd like to speak more about it...feel free to PM me.
i'm staying away from LAIR!!!
thank God i'm still playing Bioshock
and
Burnout Dominator