Tomb Raider (2013) on xbox 360 Review

written by Anonymous, published 2026-Mar-22, comment

I popped this in after completing Watchdogs (gave it 8/10 cool game). The graphics are ok. This feels like the game that transitioned laura to full circle Drakes Uncharted. Tonnes of QuickTime events, scripted scenes and white paint telling you where to jump up. I played for about 15 minutes and the entire thing was on rails apart from a little section where I had to jump from a ledge onto a crane to raise a flaming bunch of garbage. It was insane but slick in it's execution. The early game is sectioned off so it auto saves often which means that there is not much freedom to mess up during this early tutorial section. We will see if it opens up as we go along.

Even in the early game there are popups for progression for basically doing nothing - wish I could turn these off. This is a bad sign but I should not be surprised as this game probably started this modern trend. I even took a look at the achievements which was basically "kill 30 enemies", "craft 20 weapons", "hunt 2 large animals". lol, this game feels like it is going to be a gigantic waste of time. But we will see.

The game is pretty straight forward with lots and lots of little cutscenes/QTEs as I mentioned before. The game funnels Lara into a constant mix of awful situations. There is jump paint, animals to harvest, scrap to collect so you can upgrade weapons and skills. The skill tree is gated so that you cant "over power" anything too soon. In so doing it ends up being a liner checklist of things to click on - which sucks.

It's a collect-a-thon game that is fluid and most jumps are easy to make without worry. The game feels like Uncharted + Horizon Zero Dawn mixed with Banjo Kazooie. This is why I play on easy. The bow feels nice. I am mostly using the bow. Silent and deadly.

The game is good, the flow is good, the bow is deadly. Some areas have a bunch of enemies but not to an extreme. The game flows nice without many road blocks in the way. Its just one torture scene after another. I dont know how laura or any woman could survive this all. But this is video game logic.

I like the sections with fire. Fire in this game looks really good. Though the fire sections are few and far between - they are impressive to look at. The game does not balance very well for the bow, so you might get forced to use the guns in a few spots - especially if you are not efficient with your arrow consumption. This is disappointing because I had planned to use the bow throughout my entire play-through.

Conclusion

Good game. 8.5/10. Worth the time. Innovative. Nice set pieces, nice fire. Lots of stuff to collect. I might buy Rise of the Tomb Raider to see if it holds up. The game is fun on easy with nice set pieces and not too much bloat. Would recommend. Must have in any collection. Going to play Aliens vs Predator next.

Strategy

Play on easy, bow and arrow all the way. I completed the game first time with a 75% completed. So the game is not a collect-a-thon. You can replay the game afterwards to collect everything you missed if you so desire. Playing bow only feels good and is a bit more stealthy if thats what you are into. I only upgraded the bow to 100% and ignored everything else. Had 5000 scrap left over in the end.

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My Thoughts on the new Ricoh GR IV / GR4

written by owen, published 2025-Sep-08, comment

The gr4 has finally been announced and its dropping September 2025 for a MSRP of $1500 USD. I am not surprised at the price considering how things are nowadays in the economy but it is what it is. At least it has not reach leica levels of expense. Hobbies are expensive and photography is up there on my most expensive hobby. Anyway lets dive into my thoughts on this new release.

New MicroSD Card slot

MSD cards are tiny and easy to lose. That being said I think you should always have external storage because of you destroy you device you are basically knackered. At lease with a SD card you can remove the card and rescue the data. So I will definitely get a SD card even with the new upgraded internal storage. I am not sure how much the fancy new cards will cost but this is just another expense that I will need to get setup.

Slightly more megapixels

Getting 1.5 more mp is really disappointing trash. I was hoping for at least 32mp but I guess I will have to wait 10 more years for that. So the GR4 wont be improving the resolution by much if anything. When I purchased by GR3 I was going from 16 mp to 24mp so i saw a big bump in quality. Sucks but not such luck this time around.

Faster Processor

This is pretty much the only reason to get the GR4. Even the improved battery life does not compare to being able to focus and shoot faster. Less missed shots should translate to higher hit rate but I will have to wait and see how that turns out. Combined with the faster storage this should translate to near instant reaction-shot time.

Everything else

The thinner camera really doesnt matter much but I wish they kept the old battery form factor so I can keep using the old batteries. Who knows what these new batteries will cost when they comes out. I bought alot of accessories for the gr3 which will no longer work with the gr4. The new profiles dont matter to me as I still to positive or negative film. The new buttons dont matter. The 5 axis IBIS should help avoid missed shots which is good.

The Ricoh GR3

My current GR3 has served me well with 80k shots over the 4 years that I have owned it from new. The scroll wheel is buggered even though I rarely use it. The hand grip is very soft and feels lose at time. The camera has been through alot, I pretty much carry it in a case every day and have dropped it several times accidentally, including that time I fell into a river and it go submerged for a few seconds. I think I have spare 6 batteries now; half of which hold very little charge. Batteries which cant be used in the new Gr4 so basically e-waste unless I get it sold.

Conclusion

Since my GR3 is well used there is no point in selling it because i would have to explain all the quirks/defects that it has developed over the years due to constant use and handling. It is not broken but I doubt I could honestly get more than $400 usd for it. I could pad up the sale with the accessories that I bought but I dont know. I personally dont see the point in re-buying a Gr3 unless you never had a GR camera before. If you never had a GR then the GR3 is fine. The GR4 is really a speed bump release. The differences are not significant enough to warrant the extra cost. For me the GR4 would basically be a hardware refresh. Lets see how long before its easily available to purchase.

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