Last night I was all excited about getting home and starting the 'Halo 3' beta.

I booted 'Crackdown,' clicked the link and got the message that the beta had not yet started. Awwwwwww.

I rushed to Bungie.net and checked the boards and discovered, for some users, there was a trick needed to force the beta to work properly in 'Crackdown.' I was one of those.

Here's what to do if you can't get the beta to download:

From the "system" blade on your 360, select "memory" and choose your hard drive using the "Y' button. Then click "X" "X" "LB" "RB" "X" "X". The prompt will ask if you want to perform maintenance on your hard drive... select "YES. This clears any title updates. WARNING: don't format your hard drive!!!

After restarting 'Crackdown' the new update loaded and I was able to download the 900+ meg file. An hour later, I started the game...

First thing's first, the front end, while obviously beta, looks very nice: simple fonts, flowing scenery, blurry effects and a cool Matchmaking system. It's very high-tech and easy to use.

After you're paired up with players, and the game begins, the real questions are answered.

• How does it look? Pretty good. Not 'Gears of War' good, but good... and some of the graphics look great. There's way more detail and cool elements like blood on the snow, ice that really looks like smooth-melted ice, metal that looks metallic and water that looks like water. It's nice, but not overwhelming.

• How does it play? Fantastic. It's like the 'Halos' of yore, but now seems smoother and more refined. I seriously didn't look up from my TV for three hours; this beta's a blast and completely engrossing.

It's funny how people have already found tricks to exploit the game even in this beta.

It's also funny how every player I met was WAY better than me, even though it was their first time to play the beta. So all you 'Halo' nerds will be able to jump right in.

Now to the bad news: after three ridiculously fast hours, the beta server went down. Kaput. The prompt said the beta had ended and I could buy the game in September. HUH?

Hopefully when I get home tonight it will all be back up. I really hope so, because the beta ends June 10th. That mean I only have a more weeks to figure out how NOT to come in last place.