Saturday 23 September 2006
Even with the Tokyo Game Show floor absolutely packed, we could pick out the gold-overload visuals of Lair from across the hall and managed to settle in for a spot of dragon-riding. The demo began with a tutorial, which turned out to be most handy as - to our surprise - Lair controls exclusively using the PS3 pad's motion-sensitivity.
Though it took a while for us to stop fingering at the analogue sticks (which have no effect on control), and a little longer to accustom to the sensitivity - it's easy to over steer wildly - when our dragon finally stopped flying like he'd had one too many at the local, the controls really did add to the feel of the game.
Above: You'll have to pull off some mid-air wrestling to bring down other dragons quickly
The game itself featured two armies clashing on a massive stone bridge beneath us while we duked it out with other dragons in the sky. A shoulder-button lock-on makes it a little easier to keep up with enemies, and if you get in close enough - hammering X flaps your dragon's wings - you can pull off a neat dragon-jacking manoeuvre.
Jerking the controller made our dragon ram our opponent and lock claws with them, and while the two big guys scrapped we flicked the controller again to leap on to the enemy dragon's back, kill the rider and stab his dragon in the face (ouch).
