I finally played Lair (with the updated controls patch) - against all reccomendations.
I was getting ready to play a new game yesterday - and had narrowed the decision down to either Lair or Uncharted.
Now even before beginning to play I had no doubt that Uncharted would be the better game.
However at this time I wasn't neccessarily looking for the "better" game between the two - instead right now I wanted to play a game that I already owned but the one with the shortest campaign.
It was just about even with reccomendations between Lair and Uncharted - for length of play that is. I didn't want to hear about how bad Lair was because I already owned it and that wasn't the point.
I was naive. Lair is so beautiful with so much potential - yet is so horrid that it may honestly be the worst game I have attempted to make myself get into. even with the focus being on the shortest campaign (which Lair may have) it is not worth playing for even 5 minutes.
I have played allot of games - and I do mean allot by anyones standards - I just don't post much about it and I play offline quite often so my gamer-score and trophies don't always reflect my experience. I am trying to get out of the habbit of doing that by the way. Plus I play allot of PC games.
Anyway - all I can say is that as most of you already know - Lair is horrible. I am very liberal with the games I like and quite often reviews and my opinion couldn't be further from the truth. I have not too often played a game that i would consider "bad". That is not the case with Lair - the reviewers are spot on.
So about the patch.
I played the first couple levels of Lair first with Six Axis only - then I replayed the same levels with the patched controls using the analog sticks.
While it was slightly - and I do mean slightly - more enjoyable for a first time player to use the analog controls - it did little to improve the overall experience.
The cut scenes and story were promising - but the game play is completely unacceptable. It is so difficult to do what you intend to do in the game that it is a completely unenjoyable experience.
And if a game is unenjoyable and not fun to play, well...
then what's the point?
So my final reccomendation is to avoid Lair at all costs (even at it's current $15 used price).
Unless you are looking for a challenge akin to digging ditches for a living - stay away from this game.