I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that's had "serious" (hurr durr) doubts about Serious Sam 3, the prequel/sequel to the classic PC series. I was worried that they'd cater to the babies of this generation and turn it into another military shooter rife with cover, monster closets, and terribly bland combat. It's a good thing then that it doesn't skimp on the difficulty, enemies, or blood; Serious Sam 3 is the real deal.

The third entry into the franchise is Serious Sam through and through, with absolute hordes of signature SS enemies we've come to hate-love, and the kind of precision murdering and mass viscera that isn't exactly common in modern first person shooters. The level I played started off in a ridiculous sandstorm in the middle of the Sahara, with headless kamikaze bombers and various other signature baddies spawning all around me. It was chaotic, it was intense, and if I hadn't set my difficulty to "easy", I would've died in two minutes.

And then came the giant bull demons. Self-explanatory, these bright pink, flesh-colored monsters did everything in their power to gore and impale Sam on their ridiculous horns. That includes knocking down any "cover" there may be. Old ruins, temples, and archways were reduced to rubble in mere seconds as the demons plowed through them like game journalists through a crowd to get to free lunch.

It was an absolutely impressive feature that separates Serious Sam 3 from the pack. While not everything will be destructable, it's almost guaranteed that anything resembling cover is set to be demolished in mere seconds by bombs, monsters, and/or your stupidly fun cannon weapon, which actually shoots huge cannonballs.

Add to that the new melee attacks thanks to Sam's trusty new sledgehammer and a graphics engine that looks leagues above Serious Sam 2, and you have a game that plays and looks better than whatever we've seen of Modern Warfare 3. It's triple-distilled violence and gore that goes down easy and keeps you wanting more. I can't wait to play the entire thing when it comes out sometime later this summer for the PC.