Can Your Stomach Handle It?

Lazy Raiders for the XBLA is a puzzle game where you have to move and incredibly lazy version of Henry Hatsworth around a maze-like field collecting gems and idols.  The game’s design is pretty straightforward; you move him by spinning the game screen around and he slides all over the field, falling down holes and into traps.  To avoid said traps, you have the ability to flip the screen so everything reverses and your little explorer can live on to continue his quest become the next Scrooge McDuck. 

Actually, Lazy Raiders would have made its way into that strange area of my heart reserved for puzzle games I actually like: right next to Tetris, Dr. Mario and Professor Layton. I just wish I could play it for more than five minutes at a time without feeling the need to go out to the drug store in order to replenish my supply of Dramamine.

The constant spinning, shifting and rotating of the screen is quite nauseating.  The constant screen twisting and turning is an interesting game mechanic as it uses gravity as the source of gameplay, but this game is definitely not for players with weaker stomachs.

Other than having seasickness, the only major complaint with the game comes from the lack of detail within each object.  Although this game was played on an HDTV, it was still difficult to judge what obstacles were in the way.  Unless you are constantly zooming the camera in, you can probably expect to experience some accidental deaths. Keep in mind, however, that zooming in will only make you even more car sick. 

The music is more or less forgettable but the game play is solid and straightforward.  And even though the screen tilting will make you vomit, it actually controls really well.

Lazy Raiders is a new way to play maze puzzle games.  There are quite a bit of cool features the game offers: Leaderboards, the ability to play the game as your avatar, eventual downloadable content (maybe new maps or if we’re lucky maybe a level editor).  Like Marathon (XBLA), you should try out the free demo before you make a full purchase just to see if your stomach can handle the rotation effects.