Gamertell Review: Lazy Raiders for Xbox Live
by at March 18, 2010 10:43 am
Sections: Consoles, Features, Gaming News, Genres, Opinions, Originals, Puzzle, Reviews, Xbox-360
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Lazy Raiders takes a very simple control scheme and turns it into a complex sequence of brainteasers.
Your main character, the archeologist Dr. Diggabone, is too lazy to actually walk around the tombs he’s raiding. So you have to help by tilting the various mazes using the left thumbstick to toss him into gold and away from a number of traps. The more you tilt the maze, the faster he falls.
Lara Croft has nothing to fear from the good doctor in terms of gunslinging or action but the doc will bend your brain.
Nice Tombs
In addition to the maze flipping, pressing the A button flips the entire maze upside down. Using your controller’s trigger buttons allows you to zoom in and out. This is an important feature as sometimes a change of perspective is integral to solving the puzzles. That’s the entire control scheme and it yields a game brilliant in its simplicity.
As you go further along, the mazes’ traps will include fire, spikes and mechanical gears that can grind your character to a pulp. Also, there are thieves that enter the maze who can kill you. You can turn the tables on them by tilting the maze and sending them into traps.
The traps can be used against each other as well. For example, boulders destroy spikes. Using knowledge of the traps will allow you to access important areas and improve your time, as well as turning the mazes against any thieves running around.
“Death” isn’t really in play with this game. You have infinite respawns and while there is a clock, it’s simply there so you can attempt to better your time. That’s part of the game’s charm. You can take it at your pace, and once you’ve gone through a few mazes you’ll laugh at your previous times. Then you’ll be inclined to go back and try to beat the initial mazes faster.
Not Yer Momma’s Puzzler
Some people may be turned off by the relatively simple controls and approach but if they are they’ll miss a fine puzzler. It’s very much a family-oriented game (as my wife exemplified by stopping and telling me how wrong I was doing everything). It’s the type of game that can easily inspire competition among family and friends whether playing in person or on the Xbox Live leaderboards.
Certainly, the concepts here aren’t new. Kirby and Sonic are among the console mascots who have used them before in various games. Sarbakan Game Studio has done a good job of taking things that worked before and crafting them into a new, fun package. You can even switch Dr. Diggabone out for your own Xbox Live Avatar. This game is already designed to be super cute so placing in Avatars, Microsoft’s answer to the Nintendo Miis, makes perfect sense.
There are 75 maps and a number of special relics to pick up so Lazy Raiders offers plenty of replay value. This is again where the decision not to really penalize for character death is a stroke of genius. You can play through maps at your own pace, strictly for practice, before attempting to grind out the best time possible. After all, this isn’t some Indiana Jones-style action adventure. This is a really cute, surprisingly addictive puzzle game with archeology just being the means to a very creative end.
There is not a whole lot of sound but what there is works well. Dr. Diggabone is largely mute, other than grunting when his considerable girth hits the floor or giggling with Wario-like glee when he gets the golden idols at the end of a level. The sounds consists of minimal beats that actually work well for the game type. For a puzzle game, I don’t really care to be overpowered with a bunch of annoying bass beats or blasted with bland rock. While I’m trying to think, background music should be just that.
Cute But Lazy
Graphically, everything is super cute there is a surprising amount of detail when you close the view in for a closer look. That’s a good thing, because if the detail dropped too much the feature wouldn’t prove much help. Thankfully, things retain their texture and appearance even when you zoom in or out. That’s no small achievement considering the massive scale shift you get from zooming.
Speaking of achievements, Lazy Raiders offers a decent variety for its 200 points. Obviously, if you’re just looking for a game to blow through and up your score, the 75 mazes would make this one to avoid. Every mainstream marketplace game has achievements but only a few support the fledgling avatar award program. For that matter, most retail games haven’t jumped on the avatar award bandwagon yet. Lazy Raiders offers safari gear for your avatar. Considering Microsoft is actively charging for hats, jerseys and other virtual clothes, it’s always a great bonus to see somebody toss that stuff in for free.
If you look back upon games including Lemmings or the Mario vs Donkey Kong games and consider them highlights of your gaming career, Lazy Raiders will be a welcome addition to your Xbox Live Arcade collection.
Read [Lazy Raiders @ Xbox Live] Also Read [Team Xbox]
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