Japan loves Lair; Famitsu awards game high score
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Oct 4th 2007 at 6:00PM }
They say that Japanese and American gamers have different taste in games. Well, that certainly appears to be the case in Japan. Lair (or Rise from Lair, as it's called in Japan) has been getting a serious push by Sony's Japanese marketing team. They might have an easier job of selling the game in the territory, thanks to the fantastic critical reception of the game. Famitsu, Japan's leading gaming magazine awarded the game an impressive 34/40, which is far more generous than the current critical average of 55/100.
Will Lair be able to dominate the Japanese sales charts next week? With Halo 3 taking the top spot this week, it seems anything is possible.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ruibing @ Oct 4th 2007 6:11PM
I do remember reading about MGS4 having two control scheme, one for Japan and the other for Westerners. This may be related to how Japanese gamers are more used to complicated controls.
Deviation @ Oct 4th 2007 6:24PM
It'll be forever remembered as a joke (Lair is already an internet meme) but I still enjoy the game.
Wonderflex @ Oct 4th 2007 6:42PM
@Deviation
Or maybe it won't. Maybe a push from the Japanese markets will give this game a cult following, like so many poorly rated, and under-viewed, movies.
YourSlay3r @ Oct 4th 2007 6:43PM
Lair had hope, but has failed beyond recognition.
borgman1 @ Oct 4th 2007 6:48PM
Just because many American gamers don't like a game doesn't mean the rest of the world will feel the same way. Last time I checked America was one of the many gaming nations in this world. Our opinion is just ours and no one else’s.
Michael C. Sherrin @ Oct 4th 2007 6:53PM
I guess they got their reviewer's guide much earlier. Must have helped. Though I must say, I love the game and the controls.
*****
Michael C. Sherrin
http://www.prodigeek.com/
Matt B @ Oct 4th 2007 6:54PM
I loved LAIR and I'm not Japanese and live in America.
Brian Spence @ Oct 4th 2007 8:16PM
They probably enjoyed Lair because there isn't rabid anti-sony bias tainting their view of anything non-MS. Heavenly Sword gets bashed for being short, but how long is Halo 3? The single player campaign is even shorter!
Figboy @ Oct 4th 2007 7:28PM
i also really liked Lair, and beat it.
the game isn't as frustrating or hard after the infamous, "protect civilians, destroy warbeasts, kill rhinos, fight dragons, destroy boats, kill troops, break dam," mission about five or so levels in.
the missions after that one were a cakewalk. by the time i finished all 14 or 15 missions, i was a fricking dragon-riding pro. when i go back and play the game now, it's much, *MUCH easier (except for that crappy mission mentioned above; it's still a bitch, and just poorly conceived and designed).
i *LIKE the simple controls of moving the dragon, but i don't see why they wouldn't give us the option for analog controls. i keep on hoping that they'll release a patch and let me control the dragon with the analog sticks.
in either case, patient people will enjoy Lair. it's unfortunate that it has to be that way, but it's only a bomb in relation to the *INTERNET. reviewers nowadays seem to think that their opinion is the only one that matters, hence why Lair is being almost universally panned by people who haven't even put their *HANDS on the game, let alone played it.
sheep, basically. people are sheep sometimes.
some of the haters need to get their hands on these games themselves, and make up their own damn minds before passing judgment.
MYPS3KilledMy360 @ Oct 4th 2007 7:35PM
i guess people still dont understand the dragon wasnt supposed to handle like an F22 raptor. flailing your arms like an idiot is not the way to play. yes the targeting system and locating enemies needed help but a patch can fix that.
Bryant @ Oct 4th 2007 7:53PM
I wonder if they can do a downloadable update for the game that will give users an option to use analog controls instead.. That would be nice.
Random1448 @ Oct 4th 2007 8:16PM
Lair is a good game, if you use the controls properly...
mccomber @ Oct 4th 2007 8:26PM
Lair wasn't terrible, but it wasn't as good as it really should have been. Were it a title that came out of nowhere, it probably would have been more well received. With the hype, marketing and general buzz behind it though; it's disappointment was worse than anything.
I personally like the controls for it. The general gameplay was what I thought needed more work. It was just far too hard to figure out what the hell was going on 90% of the time in my opinion, and that was what really hindered it for me. Chaotic battle, cool. A complete mess with you in the middle? Not so much.
Larz @ Oct 4th 2007 8:43PM
I totally get their creative vision of motion-control-only. Games often seem too mechanical and it breaks the immersion factor. I totally agree with them having no radar too. That's something that bugs me a lot in games. I often find myself staring at a minimap more than the game environment. One of the things I really enjoyed about older MMORPG's was the lack of maps, you'd have to actually use visual cues to determine where you were and where you were going. It had a more immersive feel, especially for an RPG. And discovering areas was a heck of a lot more fun than just "going to this side of the map."
Take Diablo 2 for example. The map system was great. Too good actually. Sometimes I would force myself to turn it off just to see what the environment actually looked like, but that never lasted long because it gave such an advantage to just use the map all the time. It was something I both revered and detested at the same time. Playing a game staring at little blips on a 2D overhead map... I might as well go back to Atari.
NastyN8 @ Oct 4th 2007 11:10PM
if you notice the only thing people bitched about was "controls" over all the game was good. So thats telling me if they fixed the controls the game is good. From what the magz and site are tellingme when i read the reviews. Anyways this game was not that bad.
Akamaru @ Oct 4th 2007 10:32PM
Lair is nowhere near as bad as some people make it out to be. To be honest, I enjoyed Lair more than Warhawk. That is my opinion and I prefer single player games. I found the controls very intuitive and I fell in love with them.
Ray @ Oct 4th 2007 10:33PM
They love it because they tend to welcome new idea better than most Americans. I am American and I love Lair. I think most of the hate Lair has gotten is from reviewers who are resistant to change and gamers that just love to jump on the hate bandwagon.
Pepito @ Oct 4th 2007 11:09PM
EPIC + Fantasy Game + Lot of action on screen + great graphics + super music score + innovative story line + full SIXAXIS use = LAIR.
I love this game !
dp @ Oct 5th 2007 2:42AM
spot on figboy.
i'm joinin the lair-love posse right here too.
really good game, i'm no ace gamer and i'm breezing thru the missions at the mo.
it's got a few flaws but from no angle is this game worth any less than an 8 for me.
Nick @ Oct 5th 2007 4:03AM
Well here is a thought: The Japanese gaming media loves the PS3 and hates the 360. The US gaming media hates the PS3 and loves the 360. The US gaming media trashes Lair, and the Japanese gaming media loves Lair.
Is it really a surprise?
I enjoyed Lair, even with it's faults. You know what they say, "the truth usual lies somewhere in the middle." And in this case I think that is probably pretty accurate.
Egster @ Oct 5th 2007 7:17AM
Famitsu gave Halo 3 a 37/40 which does not really correspond with hating Western games.
bamf @ Oct 5th 2007 10:28AM
Giving Lair 2 control schemes and the game would have received more positive reviews but despite whether it did or not many critics reviewed an incomplete version of the game. IGN mentioned locking on with down on the d-pad which wasn't the case in the final complete version.
Its better to read from reviews that come out after the game itself. Those reviews weeks before a games release is bull.
I also have a mag where they tell that they do get offered bribes to give high scores like 10's for games.
One more thing about the controls. No one has really given LAIR a chance. as soon as they found it difficult to control they dismissed it but this doesn't mean the controls are broken. AN example is that a friend of mine like FPS on consoles but hartes PC FPS because he thinks the controls suck. Because him and like som many more people cannot use the W,A,S and D keys on a keyboard to control the player on screen. Doeas this mean that games like Half Life 2 and Bioshock on PC suck? And there are well more people who can't play FPS games on PC than those who can.
Anyone agree?
Kadamon @ Oct 5th 2007 11:20AM
Lair was okay. I could even enjoy the controls. It was the screwy up camera that turned the game off to me.
I mean, handiling the dragon except in tense situations was fine...except when you put the controller flat, one would fly down, wtf? However like I said, the camera was a complete atrocisty that was forged in the pits of Hell, or Michigan...one or the other.
I mean, hey, lets go charge that dragon, oh wait, it's dead. Now lets move onto the next one...oh, I can't. the camera is focusing on that one and I can't move the camera except for whacky kill-o-vision.
Screw you guys, I'm going home.
OTAM @ Oct 5th 2007 7:16PM
I wish they would put a demo up of this game so I could see how I liked it first before I go out and spend $60 on a game that has such terrible things written about it.
J @ Oct 6th 2007 10:38PM
Figboy is spot on.
Patient people would enjoy Lair.
Kind of like how patient people with skill would love the Monster Hunter series.
schnodder @ Oct 7th 2007 7:47AM
Lair is a great game and the controls are nice.
Best graphics to date
Clutch_beast @ Oct 7th 2007 9:16PM
Lair = Waterworld
marklar @ Oct 7th 2007 10:19PM
it doesn't matter - "Japanese people don't have souls"
--sorry couldn't help the south park quote
Sam Coulson @ Oct 8th 2007 2:28AM
You know, theres a great difference between 'Not Liking a Game' and 'The Game being Broken' and Lair falls into the latter category. So it baffles me how ANYONE can enjoy such a terrible game.
Its understandable if it was a good game and someone said "we don't like it" or "meh" kind of like what Kotaku did with Halo 3, but for Famitsu what seems like a lot of Japanese gamers to like a game that has a completely broken control scheme, targeting system and combat structure is beyond my comprehension.
Dukhat @ Oct 8th 2007 2:59AM
The above poster has clearly never played the game and is probably one of the manifold 360 and Wii fanboys that invade playstation threads and spread their lies and deceit in a pathetic attempt to bring down the PS3.
Lair does not have broken controls at all. In fact it is very intuitive to play with the PS3 controller with one caveat. The problem people may have with the PS3 controller is that the neutral setting for the controller is always situated in one way since the controller has gravitometers that detect the tilt of the controller relative to gravitational pull (straight down).
If you are sitting in a way that this orientation for the controller is easy and natural to hold, Lair plays wonderfully.
If you don't, then it is kind of difficult to control the dragons in the game.
I give Lair an 8, arcadey, but solid story, graphics, and gameplay.
Seems like Famitsu and I agree.
Also many reviewers got apparently got a beta of the game rather than the final version which does not seem to play as badly as has been said in reviews.
Laner @ Oct 8th 2007 8:21AM
More proof that the japanese are simply *weird*
Laner @ Oct 8th 2007 8:23AM
"The above poster has clearly never played the game and is probably one of the manifold 360 and Wii fanboys that invade playstation threads and spread their lies and deceit in a pathetic attempt to bring down the PS3."
lol... well, at least we know the website's title is accurate.