Rise of the Tomb Raider review – all action but too few risks

Lara Croft trades original ideas for popular ones in an action blockbuster that will please the crowds but leave some nostalgic for the days she actually raided tombs

Despite her escalating body count, Lara Croft has no problem crossing borders. In Rise of the Tomb Raider, the explorer's second outing since a 2013 reboot which re-established her as a more vulnerable yet more violent warrior, she freely zips around the world - including an ill-advised stop-off in chaotic Syria.

The series, once an icon of the British video game industry, has also roamed; it's now being co-built by long-time developer Crystal Dynamics and a Square Enix studio in tax-break friendly Canada (albeit with a team that includes the British writer, Rhianna Pratchett). Not only that, like the 2013 title upon which it builds, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a game that has wandered some way from the roots that linger in its title. Not a lot of tomb raiding goes on in Tomb Raider these days. Instead, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a rip-roaring Saturday matinee of a video game, which has traded original ideas for popular ones.