A few specialized enemy types show themselves towards the end of the game, but Killzone: Mercenary relies primarily on its stealth mechanics to diversify gameplay, for better or worse. They’re not particularly intelligent, occasionally taking cover but also content to run around in the open. You’ll be facing the same assault rifle-wielding enemies for the majority of the campaign, with a few shotgun or sniper soldiers peppered in for good measure. And it’s not without groan-worthy one-liners like, “Look, now it’s raining YOU,” or a peculiar tendency to stab enemies in the groin, things that might be funny if the game didn’t take itself so seriously.

It’s still a matter of traipsing through a linear progression of missions, dispatching anyone who stands in your way, with only a modest investment in plot. But aside from earning currency to reward your actions – and your colleagues constantly referencing how much they like money – there’s not much different about being a mercenary when compared to championing the ISA cause in every other iteration of Killzone. The storyline of the four-hour campaign does entail some light twists and turns, clouding the idea of who the “good guys” are. Without freedom of choice, this smacks of lost opportunityĭeveloped by Guerrilla Cambridge, Killzone: Mercenary is touted as putting you in the shoes of an indifferent third-party for hire, focused solely on the dollar and unconcerned with the political aims of the ISA or the Helghast. Thankfully, its absence has no impact on the entertaining multiplayer modes which are worth returning to again and again. Unfortunately, while the pure combat in Killzone: Mercenary is well-executed, the freedom of choice never comes to fruition, and it smacks of lost opportunity. Memories of Wing Commander: Privateer danced in my head as I fantasized of comparing contracts, accepting jobs and turning down others. If you’re already playing then I hope you like watching what’s been going on in a blur as you notch up yet another kill, and if you haven’t played yet then I hope you like what you see and dip your toes in.It’s an awesome concept: Take the standard dichotomy of the Killzone universe – ISA vs Helghast – and turn it on its head, inserting unbiased mercenaries catering only to the highest bidder. So here it is – we’re calling it the Beauty Pass video, but it’s really just an excuse to show off some of the various locations within the game. Given that the artists and graphics coders here are pretty proud of what they’ve created we thought it best to create a video to show off some of the scenery. There are so many games going on at such a furious pace that I reckon half those involved haven’t taken the time out to look at the beautiful scenery. If you want to check out some of the stats for yourself then take at look at Blackjack’s on the official Killzone Mercenary site. It seems there are a lot of you out there who really don’t want to show up on the radar! No doubt those people have already bought the Infiltrator Armour as well. I’d expected my personal favourite – the STA-14 – to be topping the headshot charts, but it’s actually being pipped at the post by the up close and personal touch of the silenced STA-18SE. Looking at the stats I can see that the M82 and the silenced STA-52SE are the weapons of choice for a lot of people, each racking up 5M+ kills already, but digging deeper it’s great to see that some of the other weapons are being wielded very effectively. A week after Killzone Mercenary’s launch, one of the great things to see is how so many different people play the game in so many different ways.

Killzone mercenary stats