Review: Killzone: Mercenary – PS Vita (7.9/10)

Back on the PS2, a game called Killzone came to the system and pretty much was the Halo answer for Sony and was very popular, having two sequels on PS3, one on PSP and one even launching with the PS4. I get to take a look at the PS Vita version called Killzone: Mercenary and got to hand it to the team as it pretty much brings what Killzone 2 had to the table for the most part.

In Killzone: Mercenary you are Danner, a Mercenary for hire, working for the ISA and the way the story unfolds it looks like a prequel to the second or a inbetween of sorts but the intro videos to the missions look fantastic, if only you can skip them after watching them. The guns are pretty powerful and sound great and your partner helps you out when needed though it’s scripted, it makes the A.I. feel smart though the enemies can be dense at times.

Most of the time they hide but other times they just stand and wait to be picked off and if not taken down stealthy, expect plenty of backup. The amount of enemies is on par with the PS3 version but level wise it feels like the PS2 version had longer levels and also character development as your character is pretty much silent through.

Best part is how the game plays though. everything you do earns/loses you money from stealth kills, double kills, explosion deaths, melee deaths and so forth while dying and killing the wrong people will drop it. The money you collect buys you equipment from a dealer named BlackJack who I think may be the best character as he’s witty plus the only one who has more lines in the whole game. You have a category of slots to fill up as well and to reequip them cost 250 each time but you can make that easy.

There is primary, secondary, armor, grenades and your support drone or the other 3 items which are missiles, cloaking device and a shield. The drones come in variety such as one that shocks enemies, one that pinpoints enemies and one that mainly stealth kills by stabbing through the head and yes the game can get gruesome but it’s called Killzone.

Now parts that I think ruin the game I will explain: Hacking for one feels out of place and too short of time to do it. When gathering intel sometimes you only have 15 seconds to match the shapes and unless you are Goro, it’s beyond do-able. Second is the lag which mainly is in cutscenes but also here and there in the gameplay. Lastly a small part which is in your first fight they don’t mention to press the circle button to cover. I know there is an instruction book but just odd they don’t mention it till the 2nd firefight.

The Multiplayer, while it has 3 good modes, is pretty much flawed since placement is screwed and forever will be but honestly surprised it’s still active. You have a team battle mode and a mode which you collect the most money to win and it’s everyone for themselves last, I believe it’s a sort of mission based one but never dived into it so could be wrong. I did have the game freeze on me so that was a problem but only once it happened but it always sucks when it does in any game.

Conclusion

Killzone: Mercenary is a solid PS Vita title and a no brainer for fans of the series and the genre but the missions even though the game is pocket sized, felt too short but you get a good sized game for the price. If only Multiplayer was fixed though.

The review was written and provided by Chris. All screenshots are from the PS Vita version.

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4 thoughts on “Review: Killzone: Mercenary – PS Vita (7.9/10)

  • May 23, 2016 at 08:23
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    hey…this game deserve note 10 by the graphics , sound, move,efect, replay,story, amount weapons, its a realy fps game the best

  • May 28, 2016 at 17:45
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    I’d easily rate this 8.5. It’sone of the best killzones on any system, graphics and controls are excellent, and iit’s just plain a blast to play. A must buy, even if you aren’t the biggest fps fan

  • June 7, 2016 at 15:53
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    Not a fan of killzone series, but I think your score don’t show the real value of the game:

    Graphics are awesome.
    Once you finish the game you can replay the chapters to reach some difficult requeriments. Many weapons and stuff to unlock
    Active multiplayer community, and if you can’t play online, you can buy bots dlc to create virtual players for less than 3 eur

    Furthermore the game is cheap nowadays

    I agree people can like or dislike the game or the genere, but the score it’s not objective

    • June 7, 2016 at 18:02
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      I didn’t know about bots! Nice one 🙂 I’ll have to check that out.

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