Slayer’s 1988 LP “South of Heaven” is an all-time classic, an undisputed metal masterpiece. It’s absolutely brutal while still remaining technically proficient. Damn near perfect, but it’s not “Reign In Blood” (Killzone 2) — which IS perfect, widely regarded as the greatest metal album ever. When “South of Heaven” was released as a follow-up to 1986’s “Reign”, it had impossible standards to live up to. No matter how mind-blowingly good it was (which it completely is), it would never be “Reign In Blood”. The only negative of “South of Heaven” is being second-best to an epic masterwork. Killzone 3 shares that same fate. The third (and supposed final) installment of the Killzone series is a must-play for all you PS3 owners. The story picks up immediately where the second game left off. You had just finished killing your way through an epic Helghan last stand in Pyrrhus (one of my favorite FPS levels ever, by the way) and killed the supreme Helghast leader Scolar Visari in his own palace. After watching this, the remaining Helghan leaders basically say to themselves, “Enough of this bullshit,” and send in a giant attack force to blow your sorry ass the hell off their planet. Welcome to Killzone 3. And it simply doesn’t slow down from there. What makes for a great first-person shooter? Great set pieces, engaging story, tight controls/button mapping/gunplay and variety in weaponry/environments. Check, check, check and check. The gunplay in this game is ridiculous. You had better formulate a plan for each skirmish, and quickly. The AI is still the best in the FPS genre, leaving you no time to sit in cover and hope everything just works itself out. Crumbling cover, flanking and strategically positioning AI and very little room for error make this game a fast-paced, difficult journey from start to finish. To offset the difficulty, Guerilla Games once again implemented its brand of super-tight controls and customizable button mapping. The strictly gunplay sequences are broken up nicely with rail shooting, stealth missions and vehicle sections. Jet packs, walking mechs and armored vehicles all have their own certain flair, but I enjoyed the walking mechs the most as it made me feel like an ED-209. (Go ahead and look that up.) Also keeping the action fresh are the locale changes throughout, from a Helghast armory to a man-eating jungle to a nuclear wasteland to an arctic environment to outer space, Guerilla takes the fight everywhere. Visually, this game will blow your hair to the back of the auditorium. There is no lagging to be found, even when it seems that you couldn’t fit one more color or piece of shrapnel flying around on your TV without it exploding. Vehicles and characters moving independently, colors that don’t even have names yet and nonstop action on your screen really bring this game to life. It’s still the best Playstation exclusive multiplayer experience around (sorry, MAG). As with Killzone 2, the class selection, customizable options and leveling leave me with no complaints. With battlefields much larger than its predecessor (which is saying quite a bit) and its razor-sharp controls, it brings back that same addictiveness for a second dose. The team objective game modes remind me a little of Singularity, but better. Now, I don’t own a Playstation Move, but everything I’ve heard and every review I’ve seen says this is THE game to play it with. So if you already own the Move and have an extra $40 to blow on yet another peripheral, check it out. But no angry emails, please. I’m just playing Telephone here. All in all, you need to play this game. I loved how it made me think quickly and act even faster in order not to be overwhelmed with the Helghan hordes. Visually amazing, well-written and tight as the cap on a pickle jar, it’s everything you want in an FPS. It’s just not quite as epic as Killzone 2. But then again, Killzone 2 is Reign In Blood, and Killzone 3 is South of Heaven. And that is definitely not a bad thing.