Predictably, such high tech espionage comes at a price your detection is ruthlessly punished by well-armed and heavily armoured enemy patrols just itching to put bullets into your perfectly coiffeured skull. Rare resists the temptation to overload the spy element too much, though. In addition to a standard loadout of all the familiar weapons (of which you can generally only carry two at a time, though a third slot offers dual-wield for a select few, as well as occasional grenades) you also get a few standard context-sensitive gadgets: the Locktopus (bet you can't guess what this does), the hacking Data Thief, the destructive Demo Kit, not to mention some one-off high tech items like the remote-controlled CamSpy and the sound-enhancing Audioscope. As expected, you're treated to all the gadgets, stealth-lite and back-to-base communication that goes with being the queen of espionage. Much like Rare's other two celebrated spy FPSs, PDZ continues down the same path and even gets the Bond tributes out of the way before you've so much as reached the menu screen. It's a solid follow-up to a five year-old N64 title with some decent multiplayer elements. The annoying thing is, the only thing it's likely to kill is Rare's already waning reputation for triple A' perfection. It needed to be a GoldenEye-beater, a Halo-killer, a game to send Valve and id back to the drawing board. In the context of a high-profile next generation blockbuster, such down-played compliments sound like insults. Being diplomatic you might well concede that it’s 'a good genre offering' that 'devoted FPS fans will enjoy', but that sounds so glib.

Through gritted teeth you could admit that it's 'a respectable, solid, mostly entertaining secret agent FPS'. The plain, unpalatable, inescapable truth is that Rare's latest shooter is worryingly far away from being a classic. Microsoft wanted, needed, another Halo-sized launch title, but Perfect Dark Zero most definitely isn’t it. If Microsoft was hoping that Perfect Dark Zero was going to be one of the pillar launch titles to usher in the next generation in a blaze of glory, then it must be - deep down - pretty disappointed.

Download perfect dark zero xbox 360