We’re just a few weeks away from the launch of Killzone: Mercenary, but gamers won’t have to wait that long to cut their teeth on Mercenary’s impressive multiplayer suite. The team here at Guerrilla Cambridge is expanding the multiplayer beta to give the servers a good test before Mercenary launches on September 10th in North America for PS Vita.

For North American users, the Open Beta for Killzone: Mercenary will be made available to PlayStation Plus subscribers on August 20th (after the Store update). Those of you who went out of your way to acquire special beta access vouchers — Perhaps through a certain promotion on PS Home? — will also be granted early access!

Then, on August 27th (after the Store update), the beta will open up further to become available to all North American PS Vita owners, coming to a close on September 3rd.

Surviving the Beta

Mercenary boasts a number of unique modes, innovative gameplay mechanics, and introduces a daily ranking system to make Mercenary the most advanced, addictive multiplayer experience on PS Vita.

What You Should Know:

All money earned playing the game, in any mode, can be used to purchase new weapons and equipment from Blackjack (arms dealer). These purchases can then be used in both the single-player campaign and the multiplayer suite.

Once campaign missions have been completed, they can be replayed with additional contract objectives. These challenge contracts provide a set of objectives based around Covert, Demolition, and precision play-styles. They’re also a great way to earn V$.

Each campaign mission contains six pieces of Intel to retrieve. There are two ways of retrieving Intel: interrogate captains (marked on radar) or hacking Intel terminals. Collect all six pieces of Intel to unlock bonus Valor Cards for your Valor Collection.

The Valor System

The Valor system operates by assigning each member of the Killzone: Mercenary community a Valor Card. Your Valor Card represents your earning ability in the game, with Ace being the highest rank and Two being the lowest. You will be issued a new Valor Card once every 24 hours. Your new card will be based on your recent earnings compared to all other players. This means that the value of your card can go up as well as down!

In multiplayer, players will drop an instance of their Valor Card when they die. This card can then be collected for bonus V$, and the higher the Valor of the card, the greater the reward. The suit of a players Valor card represents the weapon type they have been using. To change suits a player must make consecutive kills with a specific type:

Clubs – make seven consecutive kills with an assault rifle or LMG

Hearts – make five consecutive kills with a secondary weapon

Spades – make three consecutive kills with a sniper rifle

Diamonds – make four consecutive kills with an SMG

Valor Cards collected in multiplayer and campaign (through retrieving Intel) are placed into your Valor Collection. Your Valor Collection is represented as a pack of cards and by making “hands” (four of a kind, flush, full deck) you will gain large V$ rewards.

Controls

When using sniper rifles, you can change the zoom magnification of the scope by dragging up and down on the rear touch pad when aiming down the sight.

VAN-Guard capsules are regularly fired into multiplayer maps and some single-player missions. These capsules contain a single-use VAN-guard that the player can deploy.

Most touch controls are also mapped to physical buttons:

Switch weapon = d-pad right

Deploy VAN-Guard = d-pad left

Grenade = d-pad down

Interact = press Triangle

Sprint = tap Circle when moving

The only enforced touch screen interactions are for Brutal Melee, hacking, levers, and some VAN-Guards.

Good Luck

The team at Guerrilla Cambridge put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to make Mercenary’s multiplayer package the most advanced experience to-date on PS Vita. We’re very excited for launch, but we think the Open Beta will definitely hold you over until September!