''Lazy Raiders'' (originally ''Dig It Up'') is a video game developed by Sarbakan and published by

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

for

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...

in 2010. It was later ported and published by Namco Networks for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

in 2012, and for Android in 2013.

Gameplay

''Lazy Raiders'' uses a "World-Flip" mechanic that allows the player to flip and spin the entire world, which allows gravity to move objects (such as Dr. Diggabone, boulders, minions and thieves) through mazes. The game has 80 levels set in three different settings: Seven Cities of Gold, Arctic Caves and Wild West.

Development

''Lazy Raiders'' was originally planned for both an XBLA and a

WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...

release, but the developers struggled to reach both demographics. Eventually they abandoned WiiWare as the multiplatform angle "resulted in design hazards that did nothing but dilute the whole game experience." Likewise, the game was initially planned to include two

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

modes. These were scrapped as the team was already under heavy time constraints. On June 7, 2016, it was announced that ''Lazy Raiders'' along with '' Anomaly: Warzone Earth'' and '' Aqua'' would be released for Xbox One Back Compat.

Reception

The Xbox 360 and iOS versions received "favorable" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' described the former as "''one of the most polished and good looking XBLA games we've played in a while.''" ''

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website and former print magazine that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. It was launched in 2005 by Steel Media Limited. The publication covers portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, ...

'' called the latter "A priceless artifact." Since its release, the Xbox 360 version sold 13,063 units worldwide by January 2011. Sales moved up to 14,876 units by the end of 2011.

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/49419/lazy-raiders/ 2010 video games Android (operating system) games Cancelled Wii games IOS games Namco games Puzzle video games Single-player video games Video games developed in Canada Video games developed in the United States Xbox 360 games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games