Well I just finished Killzone Mercenary, this was a lot of fun! First game I played in the series and it was cool. While the game isn't really anything special in the sea of FPS games out there as a handheld FPS game from 2013 it's pretty good and it's an really impressive game for the hardware and the time. I also like how the levels were designed. I never found them too easy or too hard, there were linear but also still gave space to move/look around. The game is also well paced with levels and overall campaign not being too long. I also like how the game scatters shops throughout a level. So you can change your load out or pay to reload/buy new gear, and every kill you do you get paid for it. Since the MC is a mercenary, he just cares about getting paid and he ends up fighting on both sides of the war. Story wise I wouldn't say it's all great it's fine nothing too special but it does the job. A neat game overall, kinda tempted to even try the PS3 games if there as fun as this game.

But yeah I enjoyed the game more than I expected. I can see why it's considered one of the best Vita games. It's a well made game. Worst thing about it is that the game isn't anything special but that doesn't make it bad. What makes it cool, is that's it's on the Vita! Also the frame rate can tank sometimes when things get busy on the screen, even with the overclocking I did. It wouldn't say it ruins the game. You can tell the game is really pushing the Vita to it's limits, I think that's kinda cool but also distracting. The game is essentially a PS3 level FPS game on Vita and while the game itself isn't mind blowing. It's mind blowing what the game managed to pull off on handheld in 2013. Kinda a shame the game didn't too well like most Vita games, it is a real showcase for the Vita. It's a fun game shows what could have been if people actually cared about the Vita. But instead it got turn into a low budget weeb machine. Now I feel even more bad for the Vita! D:

Anyway if I were rated it I'd give it like a 7.5. losing points for a mostly lackluster story, framerate drops, and not exactly being something mind blowing for FPS games in general. To be clear though still a pretty fun game!

Personal favorite Killzone so far. Best Vita game easily.

Talking campaign first, it's really good! It's short in length but has really awesome set pieces and levels. the story is interesting enough, and I was engaged most of the time. It's incredible that they got such a decent campaign on a handheld.

It feels super satisfying to kill people. The shooting and meleeing feel so meaty and good man idk. The guns are all pretty cool and you can customize your loadout pretty thoroughly.

Onto multiplayer, it's also excellent. 4v4s are so fun man, the multiplayer maps were simple and easy to understand, and stay engaging. Using all the abilities and getting kills on other players is endlessly satisfying.

Truly believe this is the best Vita game ever made.

This is the exact type of first-person shooter experience that should have been commonplace in the Vita system, making use of its technical power and control features such as touch screen, touchpads, and dual sticks. Instead, the system was home to below-average and mediocre FPSs like Call of Duty Black Ops and Resistance Burning Skies.

Killzone Mercenary takes full advantage of the Vita features and on top of that introduces a very interesting gameplay mechanic based on mercenary soldiers that depending on how they perform during missions, they get more money. It's an interesting system that keeps things fresh especially for fans of the series. Graphics are amazing and one of the best examples of the Vita's power at the time.

The PS Vita has been really struggling with great games lately and with the dual analog sticks, everyone has been chomping at the bit for a good FPS. Resistance: Burning Skies was decent, but nowhere near the quality of the console games. Along came Black Ops II which could have been an amazing experience, but instead was a literally unfinished game and has been deemed the worst Vita game ever made. Now that Killzone has come along we finally have the great portable FPS experience we have all been wanting. While it’s not exactly up to par with the PS3 Killzone games, it’s still a great game.


Killzone has never been famous for its story, but the whole universe of Killzone is interesting itself. You play a mercenary working for both the ISA and Helghast — you basically want the war to go on longer for more money. The story picks up right after Killzone 3, but this isn’t a direct sequel to the events between the warring nations. The game also plays a little differently from other Killzone games. It feels a bit faster, yet still has the heavy feeling weapons and gunplay fans have grown to love. The game is definitely optimized for portable play and for the Vita. You switch weapons with the touch screen (one secondary and primary) as well as using grenades and your drone. The controls are actually cleverly laid out utilizing the entire system without compromising comfort.

Weapons aren’t picked up via enemies this time around — you get access to a black market where you buy them and equip them. You earn cash by picking up ammo, stealth kills, melee kills, multiple kills, or any other way you can think of. This is a brand new feature to the series and it works well. The only thing about the weapons that I was disappointed about was that they are the same ones we’ve seen through the entire series and there aren’t that many of them. Even so, the campaign levels are very linear and mostly in enclosed areas so you will stick with a shotgun and a sub-machine gun most of the time. Speaking of the campaign, there are only 9 short levels. While they are fun, they aren’t anything special and lack the epic set pieces of the console games. However, most people are going to pick this game up for the multiplayer suite.


Mercenary has a brand new Valor system that uses decks of cards. You rank up and earn new cards by doing things in the game — most will be earned in multiplayer. This is to extend the longevity of the game and to keep you coming back. The online play is a bit more fast-paced than the PS3 games and is a lot of fun. This really feels like a console game in your hands. It’s so satisfying to sneak up behind someone and execute a brutal melee kill or start getting a kill streak going. Be warned — there is a lack of modes and maps here. I hope more are introduced through DLC, but what’s here is fun for quick bursts of online shooting action. Another new system introduced are drones. These are weapons that can launch missiles down on enemies, put up shields, make you invisible, or even be used as a mobile auto-turret. This adds a whole new level to the series and is a lot of fun.


The graphics in Mercenary are phenomenal. The best portable graphics to ever grace a handheld device. They look nearly as good as the PS3 games. There is so much detail everywhere it’s nearly impossible to imagine how the Vita can render this or have this much power. Thankfully the frame rate keeps up with the action which could have seriously hampered the game. As it stands, Killzone is the best portable FPS game out there but isn’t the best Killzone game. It could have been a lot more with more time, but what we get is a decent package with an entertaining, yet short, campaign and a fun multiplayer mode.

mercenary trades in the claustrophobia and heavyweight physicality of killzone 2 with a futuristic and tech-savvy sheen communicated by means of brighter environments and a domineering user interface. the contrast is generally in accordance with the venal impulses of mercenary's campaign; 2's approach to the war theater, marked by excessive grime, endless soot, and the threat of red eyes piercing the veil of dust, is perhaps better suited for the life of a grunt soldier.

still, it was a surprise to see how many of the little flourishes animating killzone at its best (by which i mean 2, and pretty much only 2) were present in mercenary. movement is still largely bulky and encumbered; this is still a shooter that rewards hip fire; weaponry is animated so as to give the impression that at any perilous moment they could malfunction completely, their power too great for feeble hands. even so, mercenary reflects a more digital approach to warfare, denoted largely by the extensive tools at your disposal, the reduction of all enemies into incoming profit, and the portable nature of the vita itself. if the medium is the message, then mercenary, which seamlessly blends together a very traditional control scheme with touchscreen controls in a convenient portable environment seems to demonstrate a kind of uncanny trait not quite present in some other shooters. given that the narrative crux of the game is in part to protract the war so as to establish a foothold in its gun-for-hire market i don't think im necessarily wrong to point that out; it feels casually inhumane in a way killzone 2 doesn't.

of course, it should be said that, for better or worse, the work of a mercenary seems to present fertile grounds for video games on which the foundation can be set for harmonious interactions between systems and narrative. with combat and commerce fueling every exchange players can ensure they're earning more profit to accrue more resources by partaking in constant battle. the loop of growth and accumulation bolsters the loop of running and gunning, and as portable games promise wanton fun and endless playability, it's only fitting that a mercenary premise was chosen for a spin-off. the dev team seems to have shown full consideration for this by structuring the campaign through allegiance osmosis, setting the games battles to coincide with key events in 2 and 3, and reusing assets where it can be deemed necessary. all told, it's a game that checks the boxes, but not one that necessarily inspires or compels. it's telling that despite being the games amoral center the game makes implicitly clear that you, as the player character, are fighting for, ostensibly, the right thing. both sides of the conflict aim to bring a quick end to the war through means of crimes against humanity; you taking a stand against that should be read as self-preservation and enterprising behaviour rather than fighting for any lofty ideals, but the introduction of a little shitkid you have to protect kind of relents and signals that your deeds are rooted in heroism more than anything else. of course it's all a pretty schlocky premise to begin with but it's nice when things commit to what they already are rather than try to have their cake and eat it too. compare this to the mercenary work of something like ace combat zero, where your allegiance to a particular faction never changes most likely because they remain the highest bidder, but your actions within that frame of time - whether you were a consummate professional or a destructive tyrant - are constantly contested and questioned in-universe, with neither approach representing a clean or savoury stance on combat.

solid romp overall, just barely enough to actually like. visuals somehow still hold up with a certain charm to them but mission structure usually devolves into the same three things