This Is Only a Test

You remember your first kiss and your first car. And if you're a hard-core, bleary-eyed video gamer with too many 5 a.m. killing sprees in your pocket, you remember the first time you played "Halo" until you could no longer feel your red, raw thumbs.

It was super happy awesome fun times, a "Doom"-style shooter set in outer space. You fired rocket launchers at rivals while you jumped 20 feet in the air to secure high ground. It was a real eye-opener to what glory was possible on the Xbox. Then came the improved "Halo 2."

Now the gaming world awaits the Sept. 25 release of "Halo 3." But if you're antsy, you can download and play a short preview version through Xbox Live, although you have to own or rent "Crackdown" for the Xbox 360 to do so. ("Crackdown" itself is a stellar, "GTA"-ripoff shooting game.)

There's not much "Halo 3" at your disposal through Xbox Live, but it's enough to discover the beta version, at least, plays and feels like "Halo 2 Continued" with upgrades of visuals and weapons.

Once again, you run across green or snowy battlefields in your spacesuit; you leap and gun down rivals; gamers nicknamed AntiiiiiiChrist and Bongman420 riddle you with bullets.

The thing about "Halo" is it was the game of the year in 2002, bringing to the world a new type of bloodless murder fest, by offering a grand-looking sci-fi shooting adventure.

But in the past five years, we've seen its awe surpassed by "Call of Duty," "Battlefield" and "Gears of War" games. "Halo 3" looks slicker and moves smoother than its daddies. That's great. And it promises to be a grand, long adventure. Although, the handful of battlefields in the beta don't suggest that it's reinventing online play.

That said, it offers all the right stuff. You will be able to engage in team skirmishes, capture the flag contests, team vs. team slaughters, free-for-all kill-everybodies, and bomb-setting missions. There also should be a long, splendid solo mission offline.

The guns are the same. You begin with terrible starter machine guns, better sniper rifles and hard-to-target-but-deadly bazookas. You drive around in Jeep-y "Warthogs" and can turn half-invisible if you just happen to find that sort of armor lying around behind a tree.

The game blessedly allows you to mute obnoxious gamers, those occasional dillweeds blabbing racist and sexist trash talking. (Some people didn't get enough attention growing up.)

The beta ends June 10. If I had to guess, I'd say "Halo" fans will be plenty pleased, though the rest of the gaming community might complain, "I just shot that guy how many times? And he's still alive and shooting back at me?" Seriously, the guns are weak.

It's not fair for me to prognosticate about the entire "Halo 3." This is just a sample beta.

But since you have to spend $60 on "Crackdown" to download this "Halo 3" preview, reviewing it alone seems totally fair game. And it is drawing in customers. I've seen weeknights when 40,000 people were playing online. That's a lot of Bongman420s gunning for you.

("Halo 3" online beta is free to play for owners of "Crackdown" on Xbox 360 -- Plays fairly addictive but the guns are weak. Looks great. Challenging. Not rated. Three and one-half stars out of four.)