Kilizone: Mercenary Review

Come at me, bro." That's what Kil (zone's official Twitter feed told GTA V developers Rockstar when they realised the two games will release one day apart. Silly, perhaps, but it's proof of Guerilla Cambridge's Lofty ambitions for PS Vita's own Killzone. Mercenary fears no game.

PS Vita's exclusive FPS is as ambitious as any home console title, a full-scale shooter experience running on

Sony's powerhouse handheld without compromise. Much like PS4's Shadow Fall, Mercenary is a technical showcase for PS Vita, proving the extent of enary the power that lies beneath. It's not just about power, though. In fact, Killzone: Mercenary could be the single most important release on PS Vita, full stop. The reason? Call Of Duty. The Vita exclusive Black Ops: Declassified was an appalling failure, an exercise in wasted potential that showed exactly how not to put a franchise on handheld, boiling the 'campaign' down into dull, low-rent three-minute missions.

Killzone won't make the same mistake. From exploding ships in the sky to turrets, airships, a litany of guns and some awesome stealth kill options, Mercenary is packing a L.- full-fat single-player experience to sink your twin sticks into. It's not just the analogues, but also the touchscreen that promises to be put to good effect. Using the screen, players will be able to stab enemies in the back without being spotted. Don't fancy sneaking about? Run up to an enemy and ram a ruddy great knife in his neck instead for a front-facing melee kill while they stare at you in agonised surprise. An arm-mounted panel for the player character is also sure to come in handy; we've already seen it being used to uncloak a flying gunship and control an overhead drone attack — sure to be the tip of the adversarial iceberg.

The title has several game modes. Finish the campaign once and you'll be able to run through again in covert, demolition or precision mode — the first being about stealth, the second guns blazing and the last accuracy. Because you'll have a fully customisable weapon loadout, you'll be able to tailor the guns you take to the way you've opted to play. The game's story seems to revolve around conflict as a money-making exercise, with the words, "Buy guns, buy the best. War is our business," suggesting both an expandable weapon set (using in-game currency, not just DLC), and a campaign touching on the big business of making weapons.

But about that power. It does look insanely good. Somehow, Guerrilla has managed to take the engine which powers Killzone 3 on P53 and forced it to fit into PS Vita — even leaving room to make some exclusive alterations for the high-tech handheld, taking the home console engine and modifying it for on-the-go. It all adds up to a title set to prove Vita's worth, as a handheld game and as a concept — a glorious statement of intent not just to the core games industry, but a 'come at me, bro' moment to smartphone and tablet titles, too.