Although the version of Lair shown at a Sony San Diego press event this week was almost no different from the one demonstrated a few weeks earlier, it gave certain editors who weren't at that event a chance to play the most recent version of the game. You know, such as me.
According to Sony, the differences between what was shown before and what was playable yesterday were primarily in terms of optimization -- the framerate had been improved in some areas, some minor bugs had been addressed, and so on. This is really indicative of where Lair, as a whole, is at the moment: it's essentially finished. At this point, the team is pretty much focused on optimizing and polishing for the game's summer release.
Much has already been said about how the game plays, so after spending some hands-on time with the near final five playable levels -- about a third of the game -- I'm left with two main thoughts:
#1 -- Playing Lair, one word really comes to mind: Epic. Seriously, the experience of flying through these stunning, expansive landscapes with tons going on all around you and a fantastic orchestral score playing underneath is really quite something. You've simply not experienced anything like this before -- certainly not on this scale. The lighting and weather effects (lightning and rain were specifically impressive), the draw distance (you can see for miles and miles), the amount of on screen action at times (tons of other dragons flying through the air, ships in the sea, and warriors on the ground), and the ability to simply and seamlessly switch between fighting high in the sky and down on the ground -- this is absolutely a next generation experience.
