First impressions? Familiarity. Well, that and the fact that at 900MB it takes a while to download. When it's finished downloading and you first pick up your pad to play the Halo 3 beta, your first thoughts will probably be that the game looks, and feels, like Halo 2 (and, come to that, the original Halo). The maps feature a visually similar mix of arctic wastes and red sandstone gulches. Your initial payload is the same assault rifle that served so well in the first game. The controls are only subtly different. And the range of play modes is pretty similar to Halo 2. Clearly then, this is another case of combat evolved. That's no bad thing, of course. Indeed it has one key advantage, which is that the first two Halo games were brilliant, especially in multiplayer, and if it ain't broke don't fix it. But it does mean that it takes a while before the various new additions begin to make themselves felt. Initially, then, you'll probably start playing this like a conventional game of Halo multiplayer. I certainly did, and a load of other players on the beta test clearly did, and the game certainly supports that. If you were to run the game right next to Halo 2 you'd no doubt spot the differences pretty quickly, but your gut reaction will probably be that, in terms of the quality and **** of the graphics, it looks the same. Even the HUD, though revised, isn't really meaningfully different. Various play modes make a return, from the ubiquitous Slayer through the likes of Oddball and Crazy King. And the Assault Rifle feels just like it ever has. Picking up the first new weapon - the Brute Spiker, it fires different bullets, but it's difficult to tell what they do. So yeah, familiarity then.

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