The setting for Lair has only been revealed in bits and parts, but I've been able to put together a few details from my hands-on gameplay session. First off, this is a world that was once at peace, but is now in the middle of a terrible war pitting two sides in what can only be described as a bloodbath. Huge armies numbering in the thousands are waging a constant war, and it's not entirely clear who is in the right. Of course in war, the victor is usually the only one left alive to write the history books. Your character in the game is a dragon rider, one of many that are taking part in the war. Your dragon isn't the talking, magical kind that you've seen in film or fought in your last game of Dungeons & Dragons. In Lair, dragons are merely mounts, no more intelligent than a horse, and driven purely by the commands of its rider.
The controls you'll make use of when steering your tooth-gnashing beast in the right direction is the most intriguing aspect of Lair. The full range of movement your dragon goes through in flight is controlled entirely by moving the controller, with nary a button required. If you want to steer left or right, for instance, you simply tilt your controller slightly in that direction. The same goes for dives or climbing motions. Dashing forward, a move that is required quite often, can either be accomplished by pushing forward quickly with the controller, or simply hitting the X button. In the same way, the dragon can be goaded into smashing into other dragons during dogfights by simply jerking the controller rapidly in that direction. This range of motion and its translation into character control allows the face buttons and shoulder triggers to be used for other functions, including fire-breathing, the lock-on function, and melee combat, for when your rider leaps onto the backs of enemy dragons. There'll be a lot of this leaping to and fro, since this is the only way to pull off the killing blows required to down the tougher enemy dragon-riders you'll frequently face. You'll want to take down these opposing heroes and important enemies too, since this is how you sway the tide of battle, raising morale for your side in the conflict raging below.
The visuals in Lair are quite impressive. The game renders an absolutely ludicrous amount of characters onscreen at once, which really bring the enormous battlefields to life. When your dragon swoops down onto a bridge, and you see ranks and ranks of archers draw their bows and let loose a volley of arrows in your direction, you can't possibly walk away unimpressed. Complex lighting and dynamically generated shadows that change based on the time of day and the position of the sun are also noteworthy.
But will Lair be fun to play when it's released in spring 2007? Well, that depends on how the final implementation of the game's control system works out, and how well players take to this interesting new way of manipulating a flying character. The training mission I played through initially did a good job of showing me that the control scheme wasn't as tiring as I thought it would be, and only the slightest movements are required for all but the most frantic of battles. The game will feature at least seven types of dragons, presumably that the player can ride throughout the game. We'll have more on Lair as Sony preps for its launch of the PlayStation 3.
