Two simple facts about Killzone

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Worst. Hall Monitor. Ever.

“ After spending about an hour with Killzone on the Vita, I left the demo with my hands and fingers absolutely aching.

The mission I got to play involved infiltrating an open-air enemy fortress precariously built along the side of a mountain. As I stealthily made my way through the compound, I was accompanied by a child companion who provided a nice dose of Short Round-esque levity to the situation. Guerilla promises that the story delves into the gray areas of soldiers of fortune, but I certainly didn't get any of that from the chapter I played.Story aside, I loved the freedom Killzone gave me to take out my adversaries as I saw fit. If I remained patient and stalked through the shadows, I could clear an area using only my knife. If things got a bit hairy, I could find a safe outcropping and use a sniper rifle to dispatch my foes. And once I built up enough adrenaline, I could unleash a special attack that provided me with a slew of homing missiles to make quick work an entire squad. While the shooting mechanics felt good most of the time, the combat weakened just a bit when things got hectic. The Vita's analog nubs just don't have the same accurate response as the PS3's DualShock sticks.Mercenary wisely uses its titular conceit to encourage stealth kills and precise shots by rewarding you with money that can be used to deck out your character and his equipment. This pool is shared in both single and multiplayer, and it's great to know that you're building up your experience no matter which mode you play. It’s a smart leveling system that needs to become a standard across the entire genre.But despite how great Killzone looks and sounds, I'm still not entirely convinced that I want to experience a robust FPS on a handheld. Gamers take for granted the amount of physical dexterity that most shooters require, as playing on a larger controller never results in any problems. But after spending about an hour with Killzone on the Vita, I left the demo with my hands and fingers absolutely aching. Though the design of Sony's handheld is certainly sleek, it doesn't cater to the placement of fingers while playing a physically demanding game like Killzone.The time I spent with Mercenary also left me a bit worried about the length of each campaign mission. It took me the better part of an hour to complete a single chapter, and a representative from Guerilla told me that each of the nine levels are about the same length. This seems to go against the bite-sized nature of many of my all-time favorite portable games.

Marty Sliva is an Associate Editor at IGN. He really loves it when a game has the courage to be completely earnest. Follow him on Twitter @McBiggitty and on IGN.