Details of Gamepro's review of Lair are emerging now:

GAMEPRO - 3.75/5 (A)

Pros: Gorgeous graphics, amazing orchestral soundtrack, dragon based action is fun.

Cons: The decision to use a SixAxis only control scheme hurts more than it helps.

Some random quotes from the review...

ON THE CONTROL SCHEME ISSUES:

"To be fair, the motion sensing is pretty accurate but requiring you to constantly move your hands around while fiddling with buttons over the course of a fairly long game is asking too much. It's unfortunate that the game relies so heavily on a gimmicky feature that no one has been able to get a true grasp of (pun intended)."

ON THE GOOD QUALITIES:

"At it's best, the dragon-based combat of Lair is pretty damn awesome. Soaring around majestically in the sky; raining hot fiery dragon-breath death upon your foes' heads; grappling with other dragons and clawing their eyes out; leaping onto an enemy dragon-rider's back and hacking at him with your weapon; swooping down onto the ground and rampaging around like Godzilla--there's no shortage of thrills to be had."

SOME ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

"I should point out that we were playing an early review build and Factor 5 will probably make tweaks up to the moment the gold master goes off to the mastering lab, but the core gameply mechanics are already in place and there's no denying that it's flawed. I expect many fans will be disappointed thanks to all of the hype that's built up around the game, but the inevitable complaints about the control scheme will no doubt be warrented. Despite all this, Lair still manages to be a decent title that all PS3 owners should look into but you may want to reserve your true excitement for the day when the other hotly anticipated PS3 titles like Heavenly Sword arrive."

ON THE GROUND CONTROLS:

"The Sixaxis-only control scheme that plagues the game is noticably absent when you land your dragon on the ground as the analog sticks take over, making it easier to wreak havoc."

Definitely not great, but it is good according to that review, but flawed.

It sounds like the game has control issues, and sixaxis only controls for air combat???? This is a bad decision for sure. They should have gone the Warhawk way and made it optional to use Sixaxis or regular controls. It's depressing to think that this issue got in the way of this game being a lot better. I can see reviews giving low scores if they got pissed off enough about the on and off controls for a game like this.

Factor 5, learn to not force control schemes on people :P

Wow, the Lair Scores really are low (I'd always figured Blue Dragon was the kind of game that JRPGers would love and most other gamers wouldn't).

Assuming Lair's general scores end up being somewhere in that range, it really is a poignant reminder of the hype that can surround unproven franchises. This might end up being the PS3's Killzone 1. Now that's not to say that there's something wrong with originality, but only that new is just that, new. And people usually aren't nearly skeptical enough of new IP games that haven't been released yet.

Yeah that review sounds much more middle ground. Basically moral of the story: Don't force people to use motion control, give them options, because some games are not made for motion control.

Mehh.

Only reviews i go by are igns, they don't get shooter fans to review RPGs like some places.

IGN reviews are overly positive IMO.  Thier average score is like a 7.4, wheras the industry average score is a 6.8.  Really, I never trust pure numbers on reviews.  I prefer to read the comments instead and make my own decision, though a 5.5 is still pretty scary.  I really want to see what they hated so much to give it a review that low.

To those commenting about how Blue Dragon would only appeal to JRPG fans, I'm sure the people who reviewed it at EGM are JRPG fans. So they are giving it those scores even though they are players of the genre.

Just look at the Persona 3 reviews to see how much JRPGs can get from EGM.

I just think Blue Dragon seems very straightforward and simple, that's what I got from the demo. I hope there is a lot more to it than what my impressions were from playing it.

It's a good game just too typical and straightforward. And I can't help but think if that Sakaguchi was trying to stay as traditional as possible to try and sell the game to the average Japanese gamer who likes their RPGs very straightforward (Pokemon).

Yeah comments are a lot better than numbers. Sometimes you read the reviewer's gripes and think that those are not as big issues for you or that they are manageable issues that you can work with. The reviews try to score it and analyze it from the perspective of someone who isn't willing to go to extra lengths to play the game properly.

When I saw Gamespot gave Crackdown a 7.8 I flipped but then I found out their review was pretty balanced but they weren't looking for what I was looking for in the game.

Yeah, I often find that's the case with me as well. I will read a score, then read the review and find it tells me something completely different.  I have enjoyed many games that were not scored all that well, and also been disappointed by many games with all around positive scores (Morrowind).  

Also, it should be noted that getting mediocre reviews in no way dooms this game to bad sales.  50 Cent's Bulletproof sold 1.44 million copies on the PS2, and averaged a 55% or domething ridiculous like that.  With all the hype this game has and had I still expect it to break 1 million at least on the PS3 in lifetime sales.  

I don't pay attention to reviews, if it looks questionable then I'll hire it. The problem is... it comes down to the gamer. I feel alot of people are going to love it. Ok controls might be over the top and limits the player, but it's a new way of playing.

I'd wait til I play the game. I will wait for other players to talk about the game. Also note: Alot of ppl complained about Heavenly Swd and hated the controls.Yet play it a few times and you forgot the awkwardness and start to enjoy it. So I rather hear it from gamers who have an open mind.

Ive only played 1 game on there...and thats NCAA and it is sure as hell not a 8.5-9 game.......ill rent it and be my own reviewer, just like everything else....my only concern was the control and its been hit or miss with everyone