Before Killzone: Mercenary launches in September for the PlayStation Vita, Guerrilla is giving you the chance to play the multiplayer portion of the game ahead of time through an Open Beta.
To gain access, you only need to be a PlayStation Plus subscriber or have been given a voucher during a PS Home E3 promotion, and you’ll be able to download it on August 20th in North America and August 21st in Europe after the PlayStation Store updates. If you aren’t a PS+ member, the beta opens up to everyone on August 27th (NA) and August 28th (EU), with the beta itself coming to a close on September 3rd everywhere.
Guerrilla also provided a refresher on a few aspects of Killzone: Mercernary:
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 single player campaign and multiplayer.
- 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 are also a great way of earning V$.
- Each campaign mission contains six pieces of Intel to retrieve. There are two ways of retrieving Intel; interrogate captains (marked on radar) or hacking Intel terminals. Collect all six pieces of Intel to unlock bonus Valour Cards for your Valour Collection.
The Valor System
The Valor system operates by assigning each member of the Killzone: Mercenary community a Valor Card. Your Valor Card represents your earning ability in the game, with Ace being the highest rank and two being the lowest. You will be issued a new Valor Card once every 24 hours, your new card will be based on your recent earnings compared to all other players, this means that the value of your card can go up as well as down!
In multiplayer, players will drop an instance of their Valor Card when they die. This card can then be collected for bonus V$ 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 7 consecutive kills with an assault rifle or LMG
- Hearts – make 5 consecutive kills with a secondary weapon
- Spades – make three consecutive kills with a sniper rifle
- Diamonds – make 4 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.
Are you going to participate in the beta? Let us know in the comments below.
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