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[ChronotriggerJM]

So I bought this game for $9 when it went on that crazy sale a while back, and at the time I was feeling a tad bit fatigued on the genre and played through a few stages and set it down for a time. So fast forward quite a bit of time, and I decided to give this a proper run through. Holy Crap. This is a GREAT game.

I find that the huge sandboxed nature of the levels is extremely natural, and the level designs in particular are outstanding, and absolutely believable. Now I'm the type of person that generally stays with a certain play style, and typically won't deviate from it unless I absolutely have to, but in this game, there are 3 additional categories for how you can best a stage (after it's original completion so you can know what the criteria actually mean). And to even begin the stage you must have specific weapons equipped.

Precision (speed runs, headshots, extremely specific goals like "kill a person while zip lining", rescue all hostages, no civilian casualties) sort of stuff.

Covert (stealth gameplay, take out cameras, backstab people, go undetected for large portions of the stages).

Demolition (Multi-kills, destroy objects within the stages, explosive kills, brutal melee x number of opponents etc etc).

They all require extremely different methods of approach. The completionist in me demands that I get all the marks for the stage, so I find myself using weapons I would never normally use, discovering more within the stages that I might have otherwise missed, and just developing a huge appreciation for how approachable the level design lends itself to multiple strategies.

The Environments so far in (I'm 8 levels in), have all been very different, with greatly different atmospheres, and particularly great regarding use of color. Some actually decent world building type of stuff here, you really get a sense of the environments on some of these stages.

The A.I. is absolutely punishing at times, these enemies take advantage of the environment extremely quick, and I can't find myself in safe cover for more than a few seconds at any given time, and given that I like to play stealth builds, this can be problematic. Luckily, the A.I. in this game has that absolutely amazing ability to not know where you are at all times. If you can back away from an encounter, and weasel your way around the enemy (especially great for high mobility builds), you'll catch them off guard extremely often, watching them lob grenades and proceeding with caution to your last known location. Just awesome.

The weapons are truly remarkable. The Killzone series has never been a sloucher regarding weapon variety, and I'm happy to report that it's better than ever in this game. Every gun feels extremely different, they sound punchy as ever, and there are multiple types for the player to use at their disposal (Silenced, Armor Piercing, Incendiary, Explosive). And the "Vanguard Weapon's" in this game are all super weapons with an incredibly wide range of purposes that lend themselves well to whatever play style one might have.

And from what I can gather from the cutscenes towards the beginning and endings of the stages, this games actually got some very good music.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCwTCC-3zwhVomkDzgHKhtwK1d4-fyRcT

Oh and last but not least. GYRO AIMING, is here for every weapon that you line down the sights (should you choose to use it, which of course you should, it's awesome). I don't know why more FPS games on PS3/4 don't take advantage of this.

TLR If you are a fan of the FPS Genre, and you own a Vita (or don't I'd almost argue), buy this game. It's incredibly good, and the multiple playthroughs reminds me a bit of that original fun I had with Goldeneye as a kid. And pro-tip, for the people like me who like to perfect runs, don't restart the stage and watch the cutscene a million times while the game loads, just find some enemies and kill yourself, loading the checkpoint over is much easier

 

[Massa]

Completely agree, one of the best FPS of the last few years. It's great.

 

[Grisby]

I feel like it's the sad tragic swan song for the vita. What a wealth of first party titles could have looked like if Sony had stuck with it.

Not only is it the best looking handheld game but it controls and plays great, all thanks to the smooth level design and the that lovely second stick.

The game is short but I enjoyed going back through the levels in different ways and the MP was no slouch either.

GCambridge made a great game, and I hope they get another shot someday on the vita or the PS4.

 

[Wrestlemania]

I couldn't get over how it made you feel like you were about three feet tall.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I feel like it's the sad tragic swan song for the vita. What a wealth of first party titles could have looked like if Sony had stuck with it.

Not only is it the best looking handheld game but it controls and plays great, all thanks to the smooth level design and the that lovely second stick.

The game is short but I enjoyed going back through the levels in different ways and the MP was no slouch either.

GCambridge made a great game, and I hope they get another shot someday on the vita or the PS4.

Yes please! So much talent here.

 

[RE_Player]

I couldn't get over how it made you feel like you were about three feet tall.

That's common with all the Killzone games. I don't mind it.

It really is a fantastic game. Not only the best handheld FPS but a good one overall.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I couldn't get over how it made you feel like you were about three feet tall.

It's for a handheld, therefore you are pocketsized! Kidding aside, I can imagine it being offputting, but I hardly think it's new to the genre

 

[UnluckyKate]

loved it. much better game than KZ SF. tons of replay value and clever level design

 

[PerezDeCorcho]

It was my dream FPS for Vita.

 

[SerTapTap]

Great game. Gyro aiming was fantastic once you jacked up the sensitivity a ton, disapointed the PS TV controls lose that. Didn't mind the brutal melee QTEs, they're super easy on Vita, actually kind of annoying on PS TV though. The swipe controls worked fine.

Shame it wasn't a launch title and that a lot of people ignore it. It's pretty much exactly the AAA exclusive people always bitch the Vita doesn't have.

I couldn't get over how it made you feel like you were about three feet tall.

Pretty common in FPS games, really. The camera is at gun-height not head-height. Due to not (usually) rendering the whole body or even legs, there's a lot of weirdness in perspective for gameplay's sake.

 

[Pankratous]

I'm fairly certain I'm going to be opening this on my birthday. I can't wait.

 

[Eggbok]

I feel like it's the sad tragic swan song for the vita. What a wealth of first party titles could have looked like if Sony had stuck with it.

Not only is it the best looking handheld game but it controls and plays great, all thanks to the smooth level design and the that lovely second stick.

The game is short but I enjoyed going back through the levels in different ways and the MP was no slouch either.

GCambridge made a great game, and I hope they get another shot someday on the vita or the PS4.

I second this! Especially since GG is moving on to Horizon! They should totally let GC take control of Killzone, they could make the series a lot better.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I'm also fairly impressed with how much lore they've added via the Intel.

Also, this is going to sound pretty stupid, but when you're rappelling down the line, on the first stage, and you see the cruiser go down, it's pretty awesome that the second stage has you boarding that exact cruiser. I've been finding a bunch of weird stuff in the cutscenes that link to other parts of the game. It's pretty neat

 

[Hero Prinny]

KZ:M games are the kind of games I bought a vita for. Its like a console game but designed to be a portable game. One of the many reasons that to me PSP>DS.Wish more people bought it

 

[Chizzanger]

If you're sensitive to framerate drops, I don't recommend picking this up. I got drops in a lot of firefights.

Also, I don't think the Vita's sticks work really well for a FPS; there's not enough travel. I never got the sensitivity to a place where I wasn't fighting the controls.

 

[Dragon1893]

Yeah, also picked it up during the sale and it really surprised me.

 

[HueyFreeman]

I feel like it's the sad tragic swan song for the vita. What a wealth of first party titles could have looked like if Sony had stuck with it.

Not only is it the best looking handheld game but it controls and plays great, all thanks to the smooth level design and the that lovely second stick.

The game is short but I enjoyed going back through the levels in different ways and the MP was no slouch either.

GCambridge made a great game, and I hope they get another shot someday on the vita or the PS4.

Was it not confirmed they were working on the next PS4 entry? Maybe I'm making that up

 

[Tigress]

Also, I don't think the Vita's sticks work really well for a FPS; there's not enough travel. I never got the sensitivity to a place where I wasn't fighting the controls.

I actually feel the opposite. I prefer FPS's and shooters on it than I do on consoles and I think it's cause of the sticks on it.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

If you're sensitive to framerate drops, I don't recommend picking this up. I got drops in a lot of firefights.

Also, I don't think the Vita's sticks work really well for a FPS; there's not enough travel. I never got the sensitivity to a place where I wasn't fighting the controls.

I must not be sensitive, I haven't really noticed any whatsoever. Also, not sure how you're playing it, but with Gyro aiming, I simply need to be in the vicinity, aim down the sights, then correct with absolute ease. I find I'm fighting the sticks less with this game than I do on the main consoles lol.

 

[Flunkie]

Yup. Amazing game. One of the best shooters in recent years on any console. They should just do a PS4 remaster and it'd be 100x better than Shadow Fall.

 

[Gestault]

I think Mercenary, in terms of story and level design, is my favorite Killzone game. It ends up with one of the most relatable characters (the Vektan bodyguard), a pretty well handled young character, and more open viable approaches to gameplay than they'd managed otherwise in the series. Being a technical marvel for the platform helped. Admitedly, the last boss almost ruined all that for me.

May I take this opportunity to convey how irredeemably poor Shadowfall's single player was, especially in light of all this.

 

[Novocaine]

Not the biggest FPS fan but it's for sure one of the best Killzone games I've played. I loved the different contracts as well, added a ton of replay value to the game. Melee kills were super satisfying. It's a real shame that we probably won't see any more games of that calibre on Vita.

 

[Chizzanger]

I must not be sensitive, I haven't really noticed any whatsoever. Also, not sure how you're playing it, but with Gyro aiming, I simply need to be in the vicinity, aim down the sights, then correct with absolute ease. I find I'm fighting the sticks less with this game than I do on the main consoles lol.

Maybe I should try gyro aiming then. I just got frustrated that whenever there were people shooting at me, the frame rate would drop, and It'd make it that much harder to aim with any kind of precision.

The game looks really good for a handheld, though.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I think Mercenary, in terms of story and level design, is my favorite Killzone game. It ends up with one of the most relatable characters (the Vektan bodyguard), a pretty well handled young character, and more open viable approaches to gameplay than they'd managed otherwise in the series. Being a technical marvel for the platform helped. Admittedly, the last boss almost ruined all that for me.

May I take this opportunity to convey how irredeemably poor Shadowfall's single player was, especially in light of all this.

Yeah I think Shadows Fall just went through the launch crunch, and became showpiece over substance. I still had fun with it mind you, but I think Mercenaries is a legitimately great game. The Multi-player in shadows fall is great in my opinion however, so there's that.

But for fans of single player campaigns, Mercenaries is wonderful.

On a side note, how brutally overpowered is this Helghast incendiary shotgun Man this thing is beauty in motion.

I had fun with it, and it's a technical marvel on the Vita, but I wouldn't say it's a must play.

We'll just agree to disagree I couldn't put it down last night lol. Covert runs are amazing. The perfect mix of frustration and satisfaction.

 

[Tagyhag]

I had fun with it, and it's a technical marvel on the Vita, but I wouldn't say it's a must play.

 

[loaf of bread]

I can honestly say that this is the best handheld fps of all time, not that there are a multitude of games in that category, but this one takes the cake if you ask me.

 

[No Love]

The definition of FPS on handheld. Everyone should play this game.

 

[Tigress]

I think Mercenary, in terms of story and level design, is my favorite Killzone game. It ends up with one of the most relatable characters (the Vektan bodyguard), a pretty well handled young character, and more open viable approaches to gameplay than they'd managed otherwise in the series. Being a technical marvel for the platform helped. Admitedly, the last boss almost ruined all that for me.

May I take this opportunity to convey how irredeemably poor Shadowfall's single player was, especially in light of all this.

Yeah, the story was actually pretty good and I even like the "twist" (that they did a good job of foreshadowing. Not so overly heavy that you are hit over the head with it but enough you aren't like, "That makes no sense that happened").

And Blackjack amused me greatly (I really liked his character despite the fact you never actually meet him).

I've only ever played on other Killzone (Shadowfall), but Mercenary blew Shadowfall out of the water (Though I don't know how Shadowfall compares to other Killzones) in every respect. Story, gameplay, characters. I don't think there was anything I'd say Shadowfall was better at.

And I'll agree with people who say it's a must play on Vita. And I'm not even a huge FPS fan (I can enjoy them, I don't hate them. They're definitely not usually my favorite genre though and I usually get bored with them quick due to to little variety in gameplay/too focused on one type of gameplay).

 

[ryseing]

An amazing game that was completely ignored because Vita.

You know all the complaints about missing old school FPS design? Here you go. The best of the old and new in a shiny package. Level design and weapons are top tier.

The things I would do for a sequel.

Yeah, the story was actually pretty good and I even like the "twist" (that they did a good job of foreshadowing. Not so overly heavy that you are hit over the head with it but enough you aren't like, "That makes no sense that happened").

And Blackjack amused me greatly (I really liked his character despite the fact you never actually meet him).

I've only ever played on other Killzone (Shadowfall), but Mercenary blew Shadowfall out of the water (Though I don't know how Shadowfall compares to other Killzones) in every respect. Story, gameplay, characters. I don't think there was anything I'd say Shadowfall was better at.

SF is garbage. Go play 2.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

Maybe I should try gyro aiming then. I just got frustrated that whenever there were people shooting at me, the frame rate would drop, and It'd make it that much harder to aim with any kind of precision.

The game looks really good for a handheld, though.

I'll warn you in advance, once you get used to gyro aiming, you'll start to hate that more FPS games on Playstation don't take advantage of it lol. It's incredibly natural and intuitive in my opinion.

 

[nampad]

Absolutely great game by Studio Cambridge, the so called B-team for a lot of people. Never understood that sentiment and I was happy that they were responsible.

This game easily outranks many console shooters too. The variety of the level approaches, weapons and perks is nice. The MP offers a similar good experience, though the player count was a bit small for my taste. The finally good controls for a handheld shooter made their effort so much more worthwhile. The brutal melee kill swipes made countering a infight kill in MP possible, a detailed I liked.

Sucks that the game got a lot of heat for the short campaign. While it was short, it was around the same of other shooters, which barely get downgraded for that. Just the ingame counter didn't count many things. Still can't believe some reviewers didn't figure that out. Their sense of time is horrible.

Maybe I should try gyro aiming then. I just got frustrated that whenever there were people shooting at me, the frame rate would drop, and It'd make it that much harder to aim with any kind of precision.

The game looks really good for a handheld, though.

Loved the gyro aiming in SP but in MP it made me an easy kill.

 

[Tigress]

Sucks that the game got a lot of heat for the short campaign. While it was short, it was around the same of other shooters, which barely get downgraded for that. Just the ingame counter didn't count many things. Still can't believe some reviewers didn't figure that out. Their sense of time is horrible.

Shoot, if you start trying to do the other challenges, this game seems longer than most FPS campaigns.

 

[SerTapTap]

I'll warn you in advance, once you get used to gyro aiming, you'll start to hate that more FPS games on Playstation don't take advantage of it lol. It's incredibly natural and intuitive in my opinion.

Can't believe it's not common on PS4, even on first party games. DS4's gyro is accurate enough for it, judging from Flower

 

[Guile]

that feel when no psvita

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

that feel when no psvita

Yeah someone somewhere really owes it to themselves to do a port on PS4. I really hope this game doesn't just remain forgotten. I don't say this to be offensive to anyone, but there's so many divided views on the Killzone series. But I feel like this is a Great game, and not just "great for a killzone game". It's pretty sad that this is the game in the franchise that seemingly gives the most Helghast insight lol.

 

[Gestault]

Yeah someone somewhere really owes it to themselves to do a port on PS4. I really hope this game doesn't just remain forgotten. I don't say this to be offensive to anyone, but there's so many divided views on the Killzone series. But I feel like this is a Great game, and not just "great for a killzone game". It's pretty sad that this is the game in the franchise that seemingly gives the most Helghast insight lol.

I love the idea of Sony making a few strategic ports from Vita to PS4 and making them a download-only offering. I guess I can't speak to the rest of the market, but I can think of a few that would be definite double-dips for me.

 

[UnluckyKate]

I like how you could sneak and interrogate the last boss, felt very MGS like to use a common gameplay mechanic on a boss.

 

[dragonyeuw]

I feel like it's the sad tragic swan song for the vita. What a wealth of first party titles could have looked like if Sony had stuck with it.

As far as big name first party titles go, it pretty much was. And that game came out 1 1/2 years ago, imagine what we could have had if Sony hadn't thrown in the towel.

 

[DrKelpo]

May I take this opportunity to convey how irredeemably poor Shadowfall's single player was, especially in light of all this.

i'm kinda tired to defend the game here, because i have done so repeatedly, but no, it was not.

 

[Grisby]

Game looks so good:

As far as big name first party titles go, it pretty much was. And that game came out 1 1/2 years ago, imagine what we could have had if Sony hadn't thrown in the towel.

Yeah, I like that the vita is still kicking with PC ports and such but I was hoping for another KZ or UC game. Or, well, something big really.

Was it not confirmed they were working on the next PS4 entry? Maybe I'm making that up

Was it? I'm not sure. Be totally sweet if they did though.

 

[Earthanoid]

I really enjoyed it as well, the gyro aiming was great. IIRC that was also in the Uncharted Vita game. I really wish devs would use the gyro in the DS4 for aiming as it seems to be just as accurate.

I do think the game still suffers from the "most characters are jerks" syndrome that Guerrilla seems to infuse in all their games. There were at least a couple of exceptions in KZ:M which made it a bit more bearable. I also liked that stealth is a viable option and handled better than a lot of regular console games.

 

[old manatee]

I totally disagree. I thought it was a chore to play.

'Huge sandbox nature of the levels' made me lol.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I really enjoyed it as well, the gyro aiming was great. IIRC that was also in the Uncharted Vita game. I really wish devs would use the gyro in the DS4 for aiming as it seems to be just as accurate.

I do think the game still suffers from the "most characters are jerks" syndrome that Guerrilla seems to infuse in all their games. There were at least a couple of exceptions in KZ:M which made it a bit more bearable. I also liked that stealth is a viable option and handled better than a lot of regular console games.

Yeah big time, but there was definitely a little bit more humanity in this. Ivanov talking about his hometown, and his banter during combat, blackjack's awesome commentary, random people talking among themselves, etc. This franchise has absolutely been begging for some playtime and insight as a helghast. I hope they really push the bill forward and have an entire game dedicated to such.

I totally disagree. I thought it was a chore to play.

'Huge sandbox nature of the levels' made me lol.

Opinions and such, but did we play different games? lol

 

[Skyzard]

Never been impressed by a handheld game like I have with KZ:M.

And motion assisted aiming should be a standard option in shooters.


So glad they added botmode.

 

[MUnited83]

I absolutely loved the game, completed it more times than I could count. Really love how many approaches you could have to complete each level.

Here's some screenshots I made when I went on a quest to get out of the map as much as I could. Also no HUD+hiding the weapon by taking the screenshot in the middle of switching weapons.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I absolutely loved the game, completed it more times than I could count. Really love how many approaches you could have to complete each level.

Here's some screenshots I made when I went on a quest to get out of the map as much as I could.

Awesome

 

[bananafactory]

The stealth in this game was handled extremely well. Sony should hand over the KZ franchise to Cambridge and let GG proper keep going with whatever their new IP is.

 

[sacrificengineer]

The stealth in this game was handled extremely well. Sony should hand over the KZ franchise to Cambridge and let GG proper keep going with whatever their new IP is.

That is probably actually happening right now at SCE WWS.

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

I think people overrate the game a tad but yeah it's pretty good especially for a handheld game. The game not saving at checkpoints was fucking stupid and I think the main campaign was a bit too easy even on the hardest difficulty. But it's certainly the best Killzone game and second best FPS on a handheld. Props to the first poster to guess my no.1 FPS on a handheld. Hint: It's also on Vita and it's not shit. That pretty much gives away the answer but whatever.

I liked the single player even if I do feel it's not quite as good as people make it out to be. I absolutely LOVED the multiplayer though. Used to play it every day. Super fun and it's actually balanced which is nice. Such a shame the multiplayer has been broken for me for so long now. Always get kicked out due to a connection error shortly after it loads. If I can get to a lobby before the match starts then I can play a full match fine. But if it loads me in to a match already in progress then it kicks me. This all started after a certain patch ages ago and it never got fixed. It's not an issue everyone has so it's really weird. I have no issues for any other online game. If multiplayer worked properly for me I'd still be playing it.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I think people overrate the game a tad but yeah it's pretty good especially for a handheld game. The game not saving at checkpoints was fucking stupid and I think the main campaign was a bit too easy even on the hardest difficulty. But it's certainly the best Killzone game and second best FPS on a handheld. Props to the first poster to guess my no.1 FPS on a handheld. Hint: It's also on Vita and it's not shit. That pretty much gives away the answer but whatever.

I liked the single player even if I do feel it's not quite as good as people make it out to be. I absolutely LOVED the multiplayer though. Used to play it every day. Super fun and it's actually balanced which is nice. Such a shame the multiplayer has been broken for me for so long now. Always get kicked out due to a connection error shortly after it loads. If I can get to a lobby before the match starts then I can play a full match fine. But if it loads me in to a match already in progress then it kicks me. This all started after a certain patch ages ago and it never got fixed. It's not an issue everyone has so it's really weird. I have no issues for any other online game. If multiplayer worked properly for me I'd still be playing it.

Do you mean the game not auto saving at checkpoints? I mean there is an option to quit and save the current checkpoint, and anytime I fumble up, I can always die and restart at said checkpoint.

What build did you typically go with? I find with that ridiculous mobility and stealth armor, the game gives up some surprising resistance in the triggered alarm moments.

Any chance it's resistance burning skies?