Welcome back to The PlayStation Report! We’re running through all of Sony’s properties to check in and see how healthy they are in alphabetical order. This time, we’re tackling the letter L, which looking at now before I’ve written anything seems to be an interesting batch. I see at least one super healthy brand, so that’s not nothing! Anyway, how are Sony’s L games doing? Let’s find out in The PlayStation Report. 

Lair

Lair was supposed to be huge. It was a showpiece for the SIXAXIS controller, that was also a dragon flight simulator from Factor 5, the folks behind the excellent Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series. It looked like it had everything going for it. Beautiful graphics, a cool premise, dragons, what more could you need? Except when it came out, well, a different story unfolded. 

Health rating: Very Dead

Lair delivered on a lot of its promises. Its visuals and sound design were top notch. The problem was the way it controlled. It just wasn't very fun to play, and the reviews reflected that. Sony didn’t help matters by mailing review outlets a “Lair Reviewers Guide” that tried to show them they were just playing it wrong. Naturally, outlets didn’t take too kindly to that, and they got roasted accordingly. Lair’s failure is a huge bummer because not unlike Nintendo’s Star Fox Zero, there’s something really cool buried under those bonkers controls. I'd love to see them take another swing at this one, but that’s not Sony’s style. Lair is likely buried for good. 

The Last of Us

Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic followup to the hugely successful Uncharted series was an instant hit. It’s incredibly dark, depressing, violent, and controversial in a lot of ways, which is exactly the way Sony fans tend to like their games. It’s a horror experience with some visceral action sequences and a very human story, which resonated with all manner of folks. 

Health rating: Great

The Last of Us spawned a sequel in relative short order, and then absolutely blew up. Both games are critical and commercial darlings which have spawned remasters, remakes, and a crazy successful TV series. Strangely, there hasn’t been a new game in the series since 2020’s The Last of Us Part II, but that doesn’t seem to have slowed the brand’s popularity down one bit. The Last of Us is just fine.  

Legend of Dragoon

By 1999, the PlayStation had cemented itself as the go-to platform for JRPGs. Final Fantasy VII officially stole that title away from Nintendo, and the 3rd party hits just kept on coming. Legend of Dragoon, though, came from Sony themselves, and its marketing reflected that. It’s about a group of folks with names like Dart and Rose who can transform into Dragoons which are like big ol’ powerups. It was pretty well-liked. 

Health rating: Very dead

I have no idea what happened here. No, Legend of Dragoon didn’t review as well as mainline Final Fantasy games, but it sold pretty dang well. It had great visuals, a memorable story, and then it went absolutely nowhere. It’s made by Sony's Japan Studio, so it’s not like they aren’t around anymore. I’ll never be able to wrap my head around why this didn’t turn into a series, but here we are. 

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Legend of Legaia

Speaking of PlayStation 1 RPGs, let’s talk about Legend of Legaia. I will say that I don’t know how much, if any, of this brand Sony actually owns, but they did publish it, so it’s on today’s list. Legend of Legaia was really interesting for its time because of its Tactical Arts System. It combines traditional turn based combat with active commands. It's sort of complex, but also a heck of a lot of fun, and a great way to stand out in the increasingly crowded JRPG market of the late 90s PlayStation. 

Health resting: Basically dead

A sequel was released for PlayStation 2 in 2002 by Eidos in North America, but was published by Sony themselves in Japan. Unfortunately, Legaia 2: Duel Saga didn’t really catch on the same way as the original. Its reviews were a bit lower and it didn’t get much in terms of hype leading up to its release. That was the last anyone had heard of the series in any official capacity. It’s still got its fans, but I think this one might be done for good. 

Lemmings

Lemmings has quite a history, and was by no means always a Sony property. It’s my understanding that they own the brand now, though. Anyway, Lemmings is an ancient series of games about a bunch of creatures who walk forward (almost) no matter what. The only thing that can change their trajectory is you, the player, giving them a job of some sort. Meaning that unless you stop them, they’ll walk right to their deaths, no matter how obvious it may be. 

Health rating: Difficult to say

The last original Lemmings game was 2018’s Lemmings: The Puzzle Adventure. This one was licensed by Sony, but they had little to nothing to do with it. It was a free- to-play mobile game, and it wasn’t exactly well-liked from what I can tell. I suspect the addition of typical mobile phone money pit nonsense is what turned folks off the most. So yeah, 2018 was quite a while ago, but still, the Lemmings brand seems to have a sort of endurance to it. It’s an evergreen kind of game. Will Sony do anything with it in the near future? I have no earthly idea. This one’s a tough nut to crack.  

LittleBigPlanet

LittleBigPlanet hit the PlayStation 3 like a bolt of lightning. Sony had some VERY lofty expectations for it as a sort of Mario killer. They thought Sackboy was the next big thing, and they put their muscle behind it 100%. It’s a physics-based 3D platformer with adorable visuals, and a robust level creation tool built right in. It was going to be all about sharing your creations and having a good time doing so. 

Health rating: Okay

And it was a good time. Sort of. The thing that got in its way more than anything was that while building levels was a good time, actually playing the game wasn’t. At least, not in the same way as a Mario game. The game’s physics were really unwieldy. So while the music and visuals were cool as heck, the gameplay left a lot to be desired, especially for casual players. That didn’t stop it from being a success, though. Just not quite as big a success as Sony wanted. There were numerous spinoffs and sequels made, the most recent of which was 2023’s mobile game Ultimate Sackboy. Sackboy: A Big Adventure was the last full, proper game in the series, though, and that was a little longer ago at this point, back in 2020. So no, 6 years without a proper entry is nothing to be worried about, but I have a feeling that Astro Bot has replaced Sackboy in Sony’s mind. We’ll have to wait and see. 

LocoRoco

And finally, we have LocoRoco. This is one of those incredibly cool, weird, Sony properties that really defined the brand back in the mid 2000s. LocoRoco is a puzzle “platformer” from Japan Studio that’s all about liquid blobs. You tilt the screen to make the adorable blobs congeal and squish between various areas. I’m doing a terrible job of explaining it, but trust me, it’s really fun, and full of character. 

Health rating: Not great

The last original LocoRoco game was technically 2009’s LocoRoco Midnight Carnival. That was more of a spinoff than a full game, which would make the last proper release LocoRoco 2, but that was also released in 2009, so no matter how you slice it, it’s been way too many years to call this one healthy. That said, LocoRoco had a notable presence in Astro Bot, and is widely regarded among Sony’s legacy properties. If Patapon can make a comeback, nothing is impossible for LocoRoco. 
 

And that wraps up another PlayStation Report. It’s always nice to see glimmers of hope in PlaySation brands. They don’t exactly have a stellar reputation in these things. Anyway, next time, we’ll be tackling the letter M, which umm… doesn’t look great? It’ll be a bit before we actually get around to it, so maybe things will change before then. Until next time!