Immediately apparent is a lack of moves to help you do this. True, you can walk, switch to first-person 'sight' mode and stalk in a kind of half-crouch, but this is all you can do when you're on foot, which begs the question why they made the game third-person at all. This crouching and stalking seems pretty redundant when all hell breaks loose (sirens, running soldiers, the lot) and when you shoot a guard or an object (which you have to do a lot of if you're to pick up ammo and medikits).

Also annoying is TND's hopeless camera system and its surprisingly sluggish controls. Walking and stalking close to walls to avoid detection merely makes it impossible to see where you're going, and if, as inevitably happens (for this game's AIs are on the ball) someone tries to shoot your arse up, it takes forever to pick up your opponent. Add this catalogue of shortcomings to a generally poor level of graphics resolution and you get the picture: it plays like an unfinished game.

For all its faults there is, of course, a bit of fun to be had with Tomorrow Never Dies. Apart from the confusing and therefore slow first mission, the story sweeps you forward at a brisk pace (a bit too quickly for most tastes, considering there are only 10 levels), and you also get to ski and drive and use a few Bond-ish gadgets, which is fun. There are even a few tough villains to deal with before you can complete the blighter.

At the end of the day, though, Tomorrow Never Dies is a rather disappointing affair. It's unfair to compare it directly to the N64's superb 007 outing, but this game, unlike GoldenEye, fails to live up its parent console's capabilities and has too many design shortcomings to be considered a good game. A license to kill, but not thrill.