Looking back, in fact, it was a game swimming in the heady scent of contemporary Brosnan Bond. As such it was down to the stiff-upper-lipped David Jones (who looked and sounded more solicitor than SAS) and a pretty lady with a headset to prevent nuclear catastrophe. The story posited that one Jach Priboi had stolen a nuclear device - and left a radioactive paper-trail to his secret underground headquarters through wilderness train yards, military training facilities and prisons that looked a lot like both of the above. Yes, the likes of Delta Force had treated us to wide open vistas and a realistic treatment of weapons before - but IGI pulled off both crisp craggy hills alongside decorated (although admittedly oft-repeated) building interiors. Then it'd be a matter of course to snipe the guards in the watchtowers to make sure your waltz through the front gate could be made in private. You genuinely felt like you were alone in the middle of nowhere, and that the only way out was in.

A common sensation was to sit atop a distant cliff and scope out a hulking military base sat squat in the middle of a valley. Norwegian outfit Innerloop had treated us to Joint Strike Fighter three years previously, but seemingly grew a taste for headshots and men who shout 'Hey you!' Men in red berets will react to an alarm sounding.

It was a first-person military shooter, yet it had been put together on the foundations of a flight sim. What separated IGI from fledgling Tom Clancy rivals back in 2001 was what it was built in. He went in, he went out, and he shook bad guys all about - with bullets. Project IGI stood for 'I'm Going In' (which made it a shame that its sequel wasn't called 'I'm Just Popping Out: Does Anyone Want Anything?') and it saw Brit hero David Jones doing just that. There's the feeling of anticipation as you scan the perimeter of a hulking military installation, the satisfaction of stealth kills and security camera outages as you breach its walls and (of course) that feeling of utter terror when the alarm is triggered and identical men in red berets start sprinting in rough diagonals towards you. Sneaking into bases is just the best thing.

Juegos de project igi