Sony's Lair for PlayStation3 is about as big a disappointment as it gets; the proverbial blond bimbo with great looks but no substance and the further befuddlement of utter unwieldiness once you get your hands on her... er, it. The game.

If you were to just look at Lair, watch the game's opening sequence or maybe delicately peruse the characters, creatures and environments therein, you'd be looking at a drop dead gorgeous dragon-riding game, a postcard of the PlayStation3's graphical potency. Indeed, string all the game's cutscenes together -- those computer animated interludes where the plot progresses, new objectives are spoon-fed and the story unfolds -- and you've go an audio/visual feast on par with some of Hollywood's most celebrated CGI epics, Lord of the Rings, 300, etc.

Sadly, to actually sit down and play Lair through parts where there's actual interactive action going on -- like, say dragon-riding for the purpose of killing other dragons and similarly fantastical beasties, toasting and/or munching on ground troops, or just cruising amongst waaaaay too many dragon and beasties and troops for the sake of staying alive --, and your treated to one horrific lesson in rushed game design. The thing plays choppy, all visually spluttering and stuttering and stuttering as often as not and, thus, lacking any semblance of fluidity overall.

It doesn't help the PS3's motion-sensitive (term used loosely) SixAxis controller is the only way to control flight -- a controller that seemingly cannot register a banking turn and a dive at the same time nor, apparently, differentiated between a quick yank upward from a sharp thrust forward, which is suppose to actuate two very different, crucial moves, namely a quick half-loop/barrel-roll 180 or quick lunge straight forward. Even if the SixAxis did make for good flying controls (it does in Warhawk), these dragons fly like overloaded jumbo jets looking for a safe place to crash, not the lithe and lethal lizards they look like.

It's all too bad, really, because the idea of dragon-back warfare is so thoroughly inviting. Lair, unfortunately, requires you to check all expectations at the door; pay no attention to the bimbo in the window.

Game Trailer