So, my sister's boyfriend finally brought his PS3 back over, and he brought three games I wanted to play, two of which I am discussing in the Sony forum. The third was Assassin's Creed, which I fell in love with almost instantly, but that's another story for another thread. Moving along ...

First, we popped in Lair. I've heard all the stories of horrible controls, so I went in head first expecting it. Initially, flying the dragon is disorienting because it feels like there's a delay between your action and the dragon's reaction. Is it supposed to be that way? Yes, because you technically aren't the dragon, you are the rider. This is similar to the complaints I've heard about riding Agro in Shadow of the Colossus. You were never controlling Agro, you were controlling Wander who was controlling Agro. Big difference, so this point didn't bother me as much as it bothered others.

That being said, I think this game could've instantly been better if they had implemented analog controls for flight. Something less for everyone to complain about.

I think the most annoying thing about this game is the mini-cut scenes. Holy crap, they happen at the worst times, and they completely break the flow of gameplay. And there's simply way too much going on in the game to truly sit back and appreciate Lair. It doesn't feel like a game after awhile, it feels like hard work. You've got to destroy the catapults, you've got to kill the men, you've got to kill the flying dragons, you've got to kill rhinos, you've got to kill the boats, all in the same mission. The enjoyment factor starts to go down once you are frustrated, and it wasn't hard to get frustrated with the game.

It was pretty though, and you do get a sense that you are part of a huge war. I think this game was too ambitious for Factor 5 to tackle. It had serious potential.

Played that for about an hour. Then, we came to the sword ...

Where to start?

The game is gorgeous. You should know that.

If you like God of War, I don't see why you wouldn't like this game. The production value is through the roof. The variation in gameplay, from using Nariko with swordplay, or the canons, or the missle launcher, or using Kai and the twing twang ... it's pretty fricking sweet. I got a good two hours of play with this, and I was impressed.

As I understand, it is fairly short. I fought two bosses in my two hours of gameplay, and did all that stuff I mentioned above. I think I would be upset about its shortness, more so because of how much I enjoyed playing it.

Another drawback ... the button events, similar to those in God of War, feel ... I don't know ... not as satisfying as those in God of War. Sort of ... tacked on, really. At least, that's how they made me feel when doing them. The Gongs didn't bother me as much, since they gave me practice on the aftertouch (which is another awesome thing).

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend at least renting Heavenly Sword, on the border of buying.

I wouldn't buy Lair though. It's not my cup of tea. 

I have heavenly sword its gotten a little boring.

I know quite a bit of people that are liking Lair a lot here in Spain ,and the mags have given it very good scores .I think I am buying this for holidays .....in my Samsung 40 inches Full HD it will look gorgeous .

thx fo the review, nothing really news but thx

HS is amazing, definite buy.

well I am glad someone appreciates these games. I have only played Heavenly Sword and it is amazing.

Heavenly Sword is a great game, put I wish that had spent a bit more time working on the framerate and AS. The frame drops and screen tearing can really take you out of the experience, imo.

I'm not sure why this matters to me so much, but it does. I think it's because I grew up playing predominantly Nintendo first party games, and they always have a lot of polish. The LoZ: OoT may not look so hot now, but you can still feel like you're there when playing the game, even if you are talking to people with bodies consisting of 15 polygons.

good read, I felt the same about lair.

However, I couldnt put down HS! I loved it, and don't regret buying it.

Also, how was assasins creed? It's taking up valuable space on my Christmas list.

yep heavinly sword is a great game
no comment on lair from me

 AC is amazing. Really enjoying it at the moment; as reviews say the gameplay can get a bit repetitive, but i enjoyed doing it all the same.