The artificial intelligence is what makes or breaks a botmatch game, and although Rage Wars isn't in the same league as Unreal Tournament, it can get quite challenging. For all the times that you watch a particularly retarded bot (usually your team mate) stumble into a deadly pool of lava after getting dizzy from spinning around on the spot looking for invisible enemies, there will be far more occasions when you find yourself outmanoeuvred and outgunned by a pair of efficient computerised killers, particularly if you crank up the difficulty setting. The bots usually get you by means of relentless pursuit, but it's as effective a technique as anything else.

If you don't like the idea of being chased around by opponents that know exactly where you are at all times, you can still play the game as a traditional four-player battle. All the levels and characters you find in the one-player game are available and you can invite a bot or two to make up the numbers. It's pretty good, although the levels seem claustrophobic with four windows on-screen. It's better than Turok 2 but it probably won't keep you away from GoldenEye or Quake 2 for all that long. The one-player game will keep you occupied until you've become an expert at predicting the bots' every action. By this time you'll be ready for Perfect Dark, which promises to have an even smarter bunch of bots, or even yearning for a bit of Quake 3 on the PC.