ONCE LIVE HALO REACH BETA is violent fun for all the Xbox 360 family, especially following the disappointment that was Halo 3:ODST and sadly that is needed to unlock Reach.

But the Inquirer's verdict is, thanks to Reach's subtle enhancements, players won't be disappointed again. But gamers will be frustrated by how short the beta is and how they have to wait so long until later this year for the full version.

Once you start playing you realise that Bungie has changed the game in more ways than just the addition of some new guns. There are new playlists, a couple of maps, and new abilities, possibly the most exciting of these being a jetpack that can be employed whenever you feel the need to shoot up in the air and rain down death from above.

One downside is despite the brevity of Reach beta the download is a whopping 1.2GB and once it trickled down there were still some server errors to be had. To overcome those the player just had to hop in and out of the lobby a couple of times.

Reach has four player-modes which are Stalker, where you can turn invisible, although as always it is possible to view the player Predator-style, a Scout mode where you can run fast, and one where you can recharge your energy giving you a temporary stay of invulnerability, should you need it - the Sentry. The jetpack option is referred to as the Airborne option. You choose which player option you want during loadouts and respawns, but be quick.

Lag can be a serious issue when playing online, but Bungie - which proved itself again and again with the online versions of Halo, does not appear to be suffering from this, and games load quickly. The only real problem I had was dropped connections during the load time - possibly the result of a player dropping out, or a mightily delayed start. But then, this is a beta.

The controls have been changed slightly, and anyone hopping direct from playing ODST for example, may find them a bit confusing. However, getting used to them opens you up to stylish assassination attacks - which lets face it, are always rewarding.

One new game mode is Spartans vs Covenant, which is fun as both have different abilities, for example, the aliens can scoot around evading shots much like they do in the real Halo universe. This is either a good or bad thing, depending on which side you are on at the given time. Most of the game modes are variations on the traditional team slayer or capture the flag playslists.

Overall Halo Reach, for an online game, saw remarkably very little in the way of trash talk. Should you want your opponents to be more rowdy though, simply change this in the options, and you can select between social, quiet, and what we expect to be gittish other players. Connection type can also be tweaked, but we left ours at fastest possible, since this made the most sense to us.

If you like Halo anyway, you'll love it, but I think that Reach also has enough to convert a few non-players too.

In the meantime, cancel my weekend plans. I'm going in. µ