Leave cheese out of fridge for about two hours to reach room temperature.
I made a cheescake following exactly this recipe on 27th February 2005. It turned out very well and lots of people at work really liked it. I think I could reduce the number of biscuits to 8 or 9, use full-fat soft cheese, and cover the cheesecake during the latter half of the baking so it doesn't brown so much.
I tried making the cheescake with the same amount of butter and only 8 biscuits. The base was not properly crumbly, so use 9 or 10 biscuits. Also, I tried full-fat cheese but it didn't really taste that different to me, so stick to low- or medium-fat.
Important update: Just made really nice cheescake, with base how I like it and a much creamier filling. Same ingredient ratio, i.e, 10 biscuits for 1/3 250g pack of unsalted butter. Made base then left made for about 1.5 hours, i.e., do't put in over for 10 minutes. Made filling as usual, with medium-fat soft cheese (from Sainsburys), then poured over base and put in over (175C) for 30 minutes. Hardly cracked. Next day came out quite creamy, especially in centre. So, would recommend 40 minutes instead of 30, for slightly less creamy. One great tip is to put baking paper over the base of the tin before making the cheesecake (still grease sides). It works!