In the Killzone franchise, it's always been about struggle and conflict. Of course, there's the struggle between the humans and the Helghast and even the struggle of the ISA soldiers as they come to grips with the chaos around them. The third game in the series though, introduces a brand new struggle - that of the game's lackluster single player component against a more than exceptional multiplayer suite. How much you'll like the third Killzone game depends deeply on what type of gamer you are, and how much stock you put into online gaming.

Killzone 3 begins mere minutes after the closing events of the last game. The ISA has killed Visari, the Helghan emperor, and now they need an exit strategy. Sev and Ricore group and plan with Captain Narville to begin evacuating towards the city of Pyrrhus, which just so happens to be covered by a giant mushroom cloud. During their trek, they encounter heavy Helghast resistance, looking for revenge and the plan goes awry. In previous Killzone games, the Helghast were a faceless enemy that seemed to be there just for you to shoot, but here, the team at Guerilla Games has not only given the enemy a face, but a culture as well. In Killzone 3, we see the Helghast not only as an evil villain, but as a society, dealing with the death of their leader. There's people playing for power, and fights over which direction the world of Helghan will take.

"...the story is all too intrusive with the actual game itself."

Here's the problem with this though. The Helghast, and their entire culture are clearly inspired by Germany's Nazi party, and giving them a human side can be a bit unnerving. On top of that, the story is all too intrusive with the actual game itself. At times, it feels like you'll go five feet, shoot some Helghan and then another cut scene will come up. Sure, like the rest of the game, these scenes come off as incredibly gorgeous (it's easily one of the best looking games on the PS3), but you may find yourself hard pressed to actually pay attention to them.

It's a good thing then that mechanically, Killzone 3 is one of the most impressive games of this generation. Each of the weapons feels different, the controls are tight and easy to navigate. Most of the sections come off as "clear this area...move on..." types of games, but as pedestrian as it sounds, it's incredibly rewarding thanks to the game's intuitive and fluid controls. One of my favorite moments came early in the game, as my troops and I were outnumbered by Helghast, but I was able to lay waste to them thanks to an incredibly powerful feeling turret gun. Things are made all the more fun by Killzone 3's impressive enemy AI; soldiers will move and take cover realistically, and everything instantly becomes much more challenging.  If you're playing with the Six Axis controller, the game does tend to try to shove motion control down your throat, and it's awfully clunky, but if you're playing with the PS Move, it's not an issue at all. Oh, and the melee combat in Killzone 3 is absurdly fun, come on, you can stab a Helghast soldier...in the eye.

"Environments are rendered with baffling detail..."

Similar to its predecessors, Killzone 3 is an absolute gorgeous game. Environments are rendered with baffling detail, and characters and events animate quite nicely. I was especially impressed by the way the game handled massive explosions, not only is they cool looking, but they're also incredibly fun to trigger as well.

The game's strong point is unquestionably in its multiplayer suite. While not much has changed from Killzone 2, it's such a well done engine that nothing really had to be changed to make it enjoyable (the competitive play anyways, the co-op stinks). There's an impressive number of modes to be found in Killzone 3's multiplayer section, including one of my favorites, assassination, which has one team gunning for one target, and the other trying to protect it. There's also search and destroy which finds one team trying to plant explosives. Beyond that, there's your normal modes like Capture the Flag, but everything is so fluid and fun that each mode is a blast to play.

Killzone 3 is going to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It'll be easy for someone who bought the game for the single player experience to be disappointed, but those, and I'm guessing it'll be a lot, playing for the multiplayer content are sure to have a blast. Thanks to a set of incredibly solid mechanics, and tight details, Killzone 3 is one of the best flawed games of this generation.