Where there is war, there are emotionless individuals behind the scenes working for both sides. To these individuals, it doesn’t matter who wins in the end, as long as the checks keep clearing. In Killzone: Mercenary, you are one of these profiteers.
Arran Danner is your name, and doing some dirty work for some cold hard Vektans (the currency in the Killzone universe) is the game. The main campaign of Killzone: Mercenary takes Arran through many of the events of the Killzone trilogy. Even if you can’t remember anything from the previous titles, the story is pretty easy to follow since there is not much there to begin with. Trying to make Arran have doubts about what he’s doing is tough when the character never talks. Being a first-person-shooter also means you’ll never see his face, so any emotional tug on the heartstrings the developers want to happen fall flat.
Missions in Killzone: Mercenary are separated into nine areas that all seem fairly short. Completing the campaign in around five hours was disappointing for me, but only because I really wanted to keep playing. There are incentives to go back and replay missions by selecting contracts to complete. Three different contracts for each mission has set goals for you to accomplish. Covert contracts usually have you trying to make it through the mission without getting spotted or racking up a certain amount of stealth kills. Demolition contracts are all about seeing just how much explosions you can cause to the enemies or the environment. Precision contracts are for the speed run folks. Besides doing certain tasks like rescuing hostages, you have to make it to the end of the mission in a set time limit. I wish that the PS Vita had video out for the flood of speed runs for precision contracts we would have on YouTube.
Making an FPS on a handheld device is a task that seems near impossible for any developer to try and create. Guerrilla Cambridge seems to have outdone themselves with just how well Killzone: Mercenary controls as well as how it looks. If you would have told me this was a PS3 game being played on the PS Vita through remote play, I would be inclined to believe you. Killzone: Mercenary is one of the most gorgeous looking games I have seen on a PS Vita, ever. Since it’s using a version of the Killzone 3 engine, it shouldn’t be a surprise that everything from the shadows, the lighting and little details throughout the game are nothing short of stunning.
Despite the awkwardness of playing an FPS on a handheld, Killzone: Mercenary very much feels like a console title. The smaller screen does limit the field of view, thus cutting reaction time down, but I was still able to aim and shoot without any trouble. Running did pose a little problem since there is no clicking of the analog sticks in on the the PS Vita. Having the run ability tied to a button or the rear touch screen was odd at first, though with a little time it became easier to adjust.
I was delighted to find that the touch controls were very unobtrusive and used in a minimalistic fashion in Killzone: Mercenary. Hacking terminals and doors required a matching game on your forearm-mounted computer by tapping the correct symbols on the lock. Having 3 seconds left after going through three levels of hacking on a terminal before an alarm sounds was more fun than I thought it could be. Planting and arming bombs was also a simplistic affair. Following the arrow prompts on-screen, two quick rotations is all you need , but just make sure you’re far enough away before detonating (I learned the hard way just how big the blast radius is).
If you want to earn more Vektan as well as experience (since they are one in the same), you might want to sneak your way around. It felt odd trying to play stealthily when FPS’s are known for their run-and-gun approach. To help in sneaking around, there are weapons, armor and VAN-Guards to supplement you. My main loadout for most of the campaign was a silenced sub-machine gun, a dart gun that incapacitated an enemy long enough to get a silent melee kill, and armor that silenced my movements. Switching between different loadouts is easily done by using boxes marked on the mini-map by the arms dealer, Blackjack. So if stealth isn’t your thing, Killzone: Mercenary gives you the option to tackle the missions with whatever play style you are comfortable with.
VAN-Guards are equivalent to score streak rewards in Black Ops II. An even mix of defensive and offensive VAN-Guards gives you enough choices to pick what is best for you, from a flying drone that shoots down precision orbital strikes to a personal energy shield, there is no shortage of tactics that you can deploy. I ended up going with the stealth VAN-Guard since taking out the guards one by one until the place was cleared ended up being very challenging. I felt rewarded not only in bonus Vektans but in satisfaction of my skill.
Combat was joyous, until you figure out that when the enemies are on alert and hunting you down, hiding in a corner breaks the game. The A.I. will toss an endless supply of grenades to flush you out if there are openings for the deadly explosives to enter. It’s a good thing that there are conveniently placed sealed rooms with just a door to funnel the enemies through. Once the arena was cleared of enemies, you could just waltz your way to the next checkpoint.
Once you’re finished with the single player campaign, carry over anything you have unlocked or purchased to the multiplayer arena of Killzone: Mercenary. Free-for-all, team deathmatch and team objective-based Warzone may seem like a pittance of modes until you remember that these modes are just about what every FPS has these days. As much fun as I had running around and collecting Valor cards that other players drop when killed, I had even more fun using the Mantys Engine to fly around a use its spiked pincher to wreck havoc. At first thought VAN-Guards might seem to be very unbalanced, but when you are down in last place and get that 5-kill streak going and finish in the top 3, you’ll be very thankful to have them. Spawning in the claustrophobic maps is troublesome since you will mostly end up very close to the person who just killed you. It keeps the game moving and gives everyone a fighting chance though I can see some hating to die consistently to bad spawns.
Killzone: Mercenary has beautiful art direction, near perfect controls, plenty of choices in the single player campaign with an engaging, fun-filled multiplayer. With a more fulfilling story and smarter A.I., Guerrilla Cambridge would have solved the perplexing puzzle that so many others are striving to figure out; FPS games on the PS Vita.
Killzone: Mercenary is certainly worth picking up (come on, what else are Vita owners playing these days?), and scores a cool 4/5.
http://youtu.be/mlyRAKPEZqM