September 17 has been marked as the Killzone: Mercenary release date by Sony, with the PS Vita game also having been granted a new trailer showcasing its gameplay, which can be spotted in the space below. While the said date applies to the North American version of the game, its European launch has been planned for a day later, on September 18, 2013. A number of other details regarding the title have also been disclosed by Sony by means of a post on the official PlayStation blog.
Announced for the first time at last year’s Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany, Killzone: Mercenary is the fifth entry to the entire franchise, and the second handheld title from this PlayStation-exclusive series created by Guerilla Games. It will have gamers jumping into the shoes of a character named Arran Danner, who has been described as a former UCA-soldier with no double minds about embarking on paid contracts from the ISA as well as the Helghast.
However, all this changes when an outwardly routine mission transforms into a disaster of sorts. While evacuating the Vektan Ambassador and his family in Pyrrhus, things go wrong, and Danner begins to realize that the result of the war could most probably be hanging on to the fate of the Ambassador’s young son. This leads to a fight between two sides, both of which are ready to stoop to increasingly desperate lengths so as to acquire the boy. Amongst the entire furor, Danner is left wondering whether the price of victory is really worth the paycheck.
The game has been revealed to comprise of a total of nine single-player missions, with each one of them being claimed to be nearly an hour in length. Moreover, a ‘full-fledged’ multiplayer mode also makes its way into it, equipped with six maps providing support for eight players and three different game types. A dual-stick FPS control scheme has been adopted by its developer, while the Vita’s touch and tilt controls have also been incorporated into the game.
As mentioned above, the release date for Killzone: Mercenary has been placed on September 17 and September 18 for North America and Europe, respectively. More details about the title are expected soon.
Update: The game will now be released a earlier than announced. So gamers in North America will be able to grab it on September 10, whereas those in Europe will get it on September 4.