Lady Raiders
Publisher: Sarbakan
Developer: Sarbakan
Platforms: Xbox 360
Release Date: February 24th, 2010
To see more games by Sarbakan visit their website ‘Sarbakan Website’ and follow them on twitter for updates on their games ‘Sarbakan Twitter’.
Story
“Dr. Diggabone’s so lazy he won’t even walk… But that’s not stopping him from going after 16 priceless lost relics. Jump in and take control as you tilt and flip the world to send him on a quest for instant fortune and fame.” [via http://www.lazyraiders.com/]
That little summary taken from the Lazy Raiders website pretty much sums up the entire story plot.
You play as Dr. Diggabone or your avatar (In Dr. Diggabone’s clothes). Even your avatar has become as lazy as Dr. Diggabone as gravity pulls you through the caves in search for your fortune. The game is a puzzle game, so it doesn’t require much of a story other then why you are there in the first place.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Lazy Raiders requires you to shift the map by spinning the room and letting gravity do all the work. Since Dr. Diggabone is too lazy to move, he will just let gravity drag him down. By spinning and flipping the level you help him collect gems, idols, and relics. You can’t appreciate the entire mechanic until you see it for yourself, so here is the trailer for you guys to watch.
If you didn’t watch the trailer, then you really are missing out. So go watch it!
Now that you have watched the trailer, you can see that the game gives a feeling of being rushed, and having to quickly make your decisions. At times this is true but Lazy Raiders is still a puzzle game, so take your time and plan your actions carefully (unless you are going for a good time on the leaderboards, in which case you should do it as fast as possible).
The controls are simple. Y focuses the screen (Some people are quite sensitive to the spinning, and focusing the screen helps reduce the spinning effect slightly). The left and right triggers zoom in and out gradually, while the bumpers zoom in or out to the max level. Finally, A flips the map completely upside down.
Many things will try to kill you while solving these puzzles (actually you will kill yourself, since all the threats are based off of them coming to you due to gravity, or you spinning the map wrong and falling into harm’s way). Spikes are abundant, Boulders flow with gravity, and thieves steal your gems. There are 80 levels for you to master, each revealing even more traps and obstacles to avoid as you search the caves in search for treasure.
Audio
There is a small ambient of background music as you traverse through the levels. The background music helps envelop you within the atmosphere of the game, but it is usually drowned out by boulders hitting walls, blocks falling, and chimes as you pick up gems. The game seems to pride itself on its sound effects because these are more clearly evident and will catch your attention more than the background music.
Achievements
Lazy Raiders is entirely single player and all the achievements just take time, patients, and quick solving. Most of the achievements are pretty easy depending on your skill level, the hardest one is “Legend – Collect all 16 relics and all 192 idols”; pretty much 100% the game. If you manage to unlock the ‘Legend’ achievement you will most likely have unlocked every other achievement already.
The game also includes a few gamer pictures unlocked by starting the game. Two avatar awards are also within the game.
Dr. Diggabone’s Outfit – Unlocked by just starting the game.
Dr. Diggabone’s Hat – Unlocked by collecting all 16 relics (beating the game)
(Below the achievement list is a picture with an avatar wearing the outfit and the hat in game, since it is the only thing your avatar can wear in the game)
The Achievement List is:
- Prodigal -Find the mysterious Crystal Skull.
- Olympian – Finish a maze in less than the gold time.
- Filthy Rich – Amass your first million.
- Friendly – Collect a relic with your Avatar.
- Collector – Collect 25 idols.
- Conqueror – Collect all 5 relics of the Seven Cities of Gold.
- Generous – Let the Thieves snatch at least 1 million.
- Spelunker – Collect all 5 relics of the Arctic Wrecks.
- Guinea Pig – Get hurt by every type of trap.
- Marshall – Collect all 5 relics of the Wild West.
- Sprinter – Finish a maze in less than the developer’s time.
- Legend – Collect all 16 relics and all 192 idols.
Overview
Lazy Raiders is a puzzle game with a unique “Spin” (excuse my pun and the ones that follow). It will keep you on your toes trying not to die, while at the same time forcing you to make accurately quick gravity switches to collect the gems. Lazy Raiders starts you off smoothly but quickly tosses you into the nearly impossible. Lazy Raiders is a truly mind spinning puzzle game and you won’t even notice the clock’s hands spinning as time flies by, except for those of you who use digital clocks (yeah, go ahead ruin my pun streak!). I give Lazy Raiders 9 capsules out of 10, so go buy it and get lazy! Hopefully this game gets onto the Iphone where the game mechanics can truly flourish.
Pros
- Avatar Support! (pity you can’t wear your clothes, you instead wear Dr. Biggabone’s clothes)
- A unique gameplay experience that combines strategic puzzle aspects and quick paced action aspects.
- Leaderboards can lead to endless hours of competition against your friends and the world.
Cons
- If you get dizzy easily, this is not a game for you. (I’d suggest downloading the demo first to make sure you can handle the gameplay mechanics).
- Some of the sound effects reminded me of Mario and took me out of the treasure hunter feeling.
- When flipping the entire level, it is extremely easy to lose your location and losing your location is dangerous when there are 3 boulders rolling around.
Optional
- The game is a puzzle game, and is pretty difficult as you get higher up in the levels (especially if you want to get good times for the leaderboards and get every single idol). This can be a Pro or a Con depending on the skill level of the player, and whether they like a challenge or not.
!! COMPETITION TIME !!
Sarbakan has been gracious enough to supply an extra Lazy Raiders code for us to give to our readers. Leave a comment telling us why this game looks interesting to you for a chance to win. Once we get 20 to 30 comments we will pick a random winner and email him or her the code. Make sure your email is valid so we can send it to you.
