PixlBit

I wasn't interested in Killzone until recently. I purchased Killzone Shadow Fall when I picked up my PS4 and my intrigue grew. The setting is a fairly standard good vs evil thing, but it's interesting enough for me to pick up earlier Killzone games to see what else the universe offers.

And since I wanted to give my Vita some loving, I played Killzone Mercenary first. It's a Vita exclusive and, like Shadow Fall, really showcases the power of the console it's meant for.

Story

Like most military fps games, the players take the role of soldiers, fighting against a big bad evil force, personified by one person, who then has to be defeated at the climax of the game. Mercenary isn't much different, though you play a soldier...for hire. Hence, "Mercenary."

There's not much to say about the story. There are action packed set pieces, each mission is designed to show players the different pieces of equipment that show up in multiplayer, there's a twist near the end that should be expected because...well, the genre demands it.

Killzone Mercenary's story about a merc who gets embroiled in the machinations of a madman is generic enough to work, but it's also generic enough to not stand out in a field packed full of unimaginative first person shooters.

Graphics

Killzone Mercenary is quite visually brilliant. I don't have any of the Nintendo handhelds, and aside from games found on the smartphone market, I can't compare visuals to anything other than consoles. But, even when compared to consoles, I'm surprised. It's on par with anything found on the PS3. There were some instances of framerate stutter during the campaign, but it was never too obtrusive. Thankfully, it never appears in multiplayer, which retains the same visual quality found in the core campaign.

When the graphics come under scrutiny, they surely pass the test. It's a gorgeous game that overcame any sort of hesitancy I had when I thought of handheld games. It was purty.

Gameplay

This is also where Killzone Mercenary surprised me. It took the trappings of the mercenary life and used that as a skin for the game's mechanics. Every action, both in the single-player and multiplayer earns the player money that is used to determine level and purchase weapons and equipment.

Like recent iterations of CoD, options for character loadouts aren't limited by level. As long as you have the cash to buy it, you can. I thought that was fun, especially since I completed the campaign first, so that provided me quite a bit of equipment to choose from. Anything that I bought during the course of the campaign carried over to the online portion. That was very helpful.

I was worried that playing an fps on the relatively small screen without all the buttons I am used to would be difficult--and that the touch screen controls would seem pretty gimmicky. Thankfully things went over smoothly. At first, the viewpoint seemed a little narrow, which was made more difficult by the short joysticks on the Vita, but after just a few minutes of play, I was able to adapt and move about accurately. Using the touchscreen to do melee attacks was fun, though there were some times where it felt like the screen didn't register my finger and got me killed. (Though that happens with my phone too, so it's probably just my dead, dead flesh.)

To add replayability, each campaign mission has 3 different contracts. Contracts are separate goals to complete during the mission. They range from Demolition, which has the player KILL KILL KILL and use various explosives; Precision, which is focused on headshots and completing objectives within a time limit; and Covert, forcing the player to sneak around to kill and get through the mission. Each one awards more cash, and also has three difficulties with more rewards.

Though I finished the campaign months ago, I still find myself coming back to Mercenary for the easy gameplay and addictive single-player contracts and multiplayer action.

I really enjoy Killzone Mercenary and see myself playing it for quite a long while. If you have a Vita and a tolerance for first person shooters, I highly recommend this game.