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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 2:11:24 GMT 6
Post by KC on Jun 28, 2007 2:11:24 GMT 6
Stunning new 6 level preview up at cvg will post it soon
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 12:59:01 GMT 6
Post by KC on Jun 28, 2007 12:59:01 GMT 6
Up until now, Lair hasn't been sitting at the top of everyone's Most Anticipated lists beside Metal Gear Solid and Killzone 2. But that, we're willing to bet, is about to change.
Lair's graphical prowess hits you like a bus the moment you start the first level. It has that Factor 5 touch. You leap onto your dragon and launch into the air, and it stuns you with its ultra-high-detail environments that stretch far into the distance for you to gawp at as you soar through the sky on your giant dragon.
Factor 5 clearly still knows how to get a console's chips ticking, as it did when it produced the technically stunning Star Wars: Rogue Squadron games on GameCube.
The first of the six levels we played during our exclusive hands-on is particularly stunning. A town with literally hundreds of buildings is sprawled out in a sort of canyon between two huge mountains. This awesome scene overlooks the sea, with the most amazing water ripple being lit up by a gorgeous sunset. In 1080p on a on a big screen, it really is a sight to see.
Another level has you flying around at night, in which a torrential downpour splashes water off your dragon's wings as they flap, and fierce lightening strikes light up the whole screen for a split second, momentarily revealing the impressively bump-mapped textures of the towering rocky surfaces around you before the whole scene plunges back into near complete darkness. It's awesome stuff.
It's an extremely cinematic game, with its top-notch visuals paired up with an epic, loud orchestral soundtrack and a motion control system that literally has you leaning with the action (as you should already know, you control the dragons by tilting the SixAxis).
Our favourite level is set along a river down which ships full of your men and equipment are sailing. Your primary objective is to protect them until they're safely within the confines of the city walls at the far end of the river.
You start off zooming down the river to maul a group of armour-wearing thugs that have decided to mess up one of your watch towers. Spying the troublesome group in the distance, you swoop down, yanking the L2 and R2 triggers to make your dragon slam on the brakes and land, before stomping over to maul their asses.
The ground combat is simple but satisfying. Dozens (and sometimes hundreds and even more) of soldiers surround you with their puny swords. You have choices at this point. Swing the controller left and right violently (or tap X if you're fat and lazy) to make your dragon batter through them like rag dolls, hammer Square to spit fireballs and roast them all or, our favourite, slam Triangle to snare a dude in your mouth and eat him.
Again, this all looks amazing. As your dragon grips a soldier between its teeth the game occasionally switches to slow-mo and gives you a cinematic panning view of the action. The game is so huge and the soldiers are so small, yet you can still see their limbs reacting with realistic weight and momentum as the dragon thrashes around, and they drop their weapons which fall to the ground.
You wouldn't expect such fine detail in a game with such wide open scale.
Anyway, back to the mission. Once those punks are dealt with, you can take out what we can only describe as a giant cargo dragon - they're a bit like giant airborne stingrays with snouts and teeth, and carry what looks like crates of explosives in their gut. Blowing that thing up is awesome - it causes one of the most violent explosions we've ever seen in a game, whiting out the whole screen and scattering bits of bloody flesh hundreds of feet around it.
Then you're summoned to take out catapults that are battering your cargo ships. Pulling the two triggers takes off again, which the dragon does with much ferocity. The catapults are no match for your fireballs of death. You just swoop in and drop your fiery load like a pile of the world's deadliest bird shit.
Some Ice dragons turn up. They're dragons like you, but they spit ice. Pussies. Again, read our other hands-on preview for a detailed rundown of how aerial battle is controlled. Needless to say it's pretty good fun. The lock-on and charging system rids the game of the typical boring dogfight syndrome in which you and opponents fly in circles until one of you catches sight of the opponent to shoot. None of that here.
The grand finale of the level is to guard the city gates as the boats enter. This is epic.
You fly to the gates where there awaits an army of literally thousands of little men. Not hundreds, thousands - stretching into the far distance. Granted, it seems the closer ones, the first couple of hundred maybe, are the most animated, while the rest follow a slightly less detailed pattern of movement. But come on, guys - there are thousands of men on the screen. It looks amazing!
Excited, we landed to start hyper-slapping our way through them all. Unfortunately though, once you've destroyed the four catapult towers - the main threat to the city walls - and the boats enter the gates, the level ends.
Seriously though - what a rush.
We were concerned for the level of variety in missions, but Factor 5 seems to have it covered. One level has you blowing up ships at sea. Another sees you and a team of five other dragons stage an assault on a massive stone tower with a giant revolving head at the top that seeks you out with spotlights in its eyes and blasts you with lethal cluster bombs. You have to take out its eyes then fly into its mouth to mess up its insides.
We fought a boss too; an insanely huge snake thingy that arches in and out of the sea below like the Loch Ness monster, and rearing its ugly head to spit some nasty black stuff at you.
You often hear people say that graphics are far less important than a game's gameplay[/b]. That's true. But Lair is one of those games which proves that extremely high-quality visuals and sound have a massive impact on the experience. They make the difference between a fun game and a mind-blowing, cinematic ordeal.
That's what Lair is.
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 13:03:29 GMT 6
Post by OceansAndEarth on Jun 28, 2007 13:03:29 GMT 6
Sounds really cool mate!
Should shut-up the 360 fanboys for some time, huh!
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 13:10:51 GMT 6
Post by KC on Jun 28, 2007 13:10:51 GMT 6
Should shut-up the 360 fanboys for some time, huh! dunno and tbh i dont care. im getting this game anyways,dragons rock mate.the vids they posted yesterday were stunning. |
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 14:00:08 GMT 6
Post by carboncore on Jun 28, 2007 14:00:08 GMT 6
KC, from where you get your PS3 goodies?? 'cause pre-orders are open for this and Warhawk on play-asia. You can order both + express shipping for about 145$.
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 14:32:53 GMT 6
Post by KC on Jun 28, 2007 14:32:53 GMT 6
playasia or amazon
ill order this sometime closer to release,warhawk im getting from the psn ,who needs dev interviews and a BT headset for 20-30 $$ extra, i already have 2 headsets
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 14:39:55 GMT 6
Post by OceansAndEarth on Jun 28, 2007 14:39:55 GMT 6
^ Dude, Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk?
Because everytime I try to order a game from Amazon.com, they refuse to ship stating that the game is not meant for that territory.
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 16:33:22 GMT 6
Post by ΨBarnacleBrainBrantΨ on Jun 28, 2007 16:33:22 GMT 6
amazon.com, they used to show that before, not any more  Mr.Oceans  |
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 17:21:52 GMT 6
Post by carboncore on Jun 28, 2007 17:21:52 GMT 6
playasia or amazon ill order this sometime closer to release,warhawk im getting from the psn ,who needs dev interviews and a BT headset for 20-30 $$ extra, i already have 2 headsets Yeah....I do need the headset. Besides, I'm on dsl connection which charges 700 Rs per GB over 12GB free quota. And the BD version comes with demos of other games. They might have Heavenly Sword demo on it, who knows. |
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fideljo
Full Member
PSN ID:Parinda
Posts: 178
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 17:32:36 GMT 6
Post by fideljo on Jun 28, 2007 17:32:36 GMT 6
playasia or amazon ill order this sometime closer to release,warhawk im getting from the psn ,who needs dev interviews and a BT headset for 20-30 $$ extra, i already have 2 headsets hey kc can you suggest a headset ? |
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 18:21:34 GMT 6
Post by KC on Jun 28, 2007 18:21:34 GMT 6
playasia or amazon ill order this sometime closer to release,warhawk im getting from the psn ,who needs dev interviews and a BT headset for 20-30 $$ extra, i already have 2 headsets hey kc can you suggest a headset ? dunno cant say have one sony erricson and one nokia both work flawlessly |
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 18:22:43 GMT 6
Post by KC on Jun 28, 2007 18:22:43 GMT 6
^ Dude, Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk? Because everytime I try to order a game from Amazon.com, they refuse to ship stating that the game is not meant for that territory. actually i order movies and stuff from amazon ,never ordered a game,playasia is my destination |
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 18:32:25 GMT 6
Post by carboncore on Jun 28, 2007 18:32:25 GMT 6
actually i order movies and stuff from amazon ,never ordered a game,playasia is my destination Amazon doesn't allow you to order software and games. Just movie stuff... |
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“Lair”
Jun 28, 2007 18:45:06 GMT 6
Post by KC on Jun 28, 2007 18:45:06 GMT 6
thanks for telling me that ,i tried to preorder a copy of sigma and it showed to the error.looks like playasia will be it.
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“Lair”
Jun 30, 2007 4:30:05 GMT 6
Post by KC on Jun 30, 2007 4:30:05 GMT 6
A release date has finally been set for Factor 5’s upcoming PlayStation 3 title, Lair, with the game due to ship in North America on August 14th. No doubt the perfect remedy for the summer drought period, we can also confirm that a demo of the game is scheduled to hit PlayStation Network at some point this July, though an exact date has yet to be revealed
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