Killzone: Mercenary Reviews Thread

Horp said:
My guess is the game is somewhere between a 6 and an 8, but being the best looking handheld game ever and finally managing to create a decent fps on a handheld is what makes some sites bump the score 1-3 points.
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But you forget the vita's tax, reviewers cut the score of 1-3 points for just being a vita game(the worst offender imo were the soul sacrifice reviews with people that didn't try the multiplayer or others that clearly didn't even touch the game). :P ... :(

EDIT:
from the vita thread
corrosivefrost said:
HAHAHA... from thesixthaxis review of Killzone: Mercenary:

What’s Bad:
Story loses momentum at points, though soon picks back up again.
There are only six multiplayer maps.
It’s only available for Vita.

wow. that comes off as a bit of an insult. however, they love the game:

10/10; "This isn’t just a game you need to buy if you own a Vita, this is the game you buy a Vita for."
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Obviously this is just harmless fun, but it's one of the many signs...
 
It's things like this that annoy me:
The real test for Mercenary is whether the game would stand out if it was released on a home console, but the answer to that is probably not. The nods to GoldenEye offer some deviance from the norm but overall Mercenary does too little to distinguish itself from the competition. That there is no competition on the PS Vita gives it something of a free pass, but it still seems more like a proof of concept than a standalone game.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/04/killzone-mercenary-review-twin-stick-shooter-3949237/
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NO. It's a Vita game, not a home console game. Pretending that this exact game would not be the best shooter on a console game, which doesn't have any of the limits of the Vita is not a "real test". Nor does it make Killzone Mercenary "competition" of home console shooters.
 
Man-is-Obsolete said:
Get used to it. It will be very rare for a retail Vita game to ever average above an 85 on metacritic. Sites constantly slam the vita and joke about how little they play it, now when forced to do a review I am to expect a fair review? Ha, expect Tearaway to get all over the place reviews when it comes out as well, and reviewers get stuck with another Vita review.
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I think Tearaway will fare better because it doesn't have the inherent stigma that the KZ series seems to, as well as the ridicule FPSs on handhelds seem to suffer.

SmashN'Grab said:
Eh, I'm no great fan of Metacritic myself, but in my experience "killer apps" don't usually sit in the mid-70s. That's quite poor actually.
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It may not have scored as highly some of us expected across the board, but please don't claim that a 77% Metascore is "quite poor".
 
Sorral said:
It reminds me of how some reviewers reacted to GoW:A before they have even played it (regardless of the MP being something new and unique). The same with the reactions to KZ:SF until they saw the latest MP footage.

Then a new CoD comes out and well...you know the rest.
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Certainly, a lot of these reviews are decided before they even play the game. It's why Puppeteer I think will score high, because there is no expectations going into it and reviewers know very little about it.
 
Man-is-Obsolete said:
Certainly, a lot of these reviews are decided before they even play the game. It's why Puppeteer I think will score high, because there is no expectations going into it and reviewers know very little about it.
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I´m reviewing Puppeteer, and I had NO expectations at all.. and yes you are right..

But again, I had no expectations for Killzone Mercenary.. I actually just play the games (I have to review) and make up my mind.. going in without knowing to much is a great wait to enjoy or hate games.. I hate it the other way around.
 
Aiii said:
It's things like this that annoy me:


NO. It's a Vita game, not a home console game. Pretending that this exact game would not be the best shooter on a console game, which doesn't have any of the limits of the Vita is not a "real test". Nor does it make Killzone Mercenary "competition" of home console shooters.
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Lol I read that NO in Daniel Bryan's voice. But I agree. It''s bullshitty.
 
Aiii said:
It's things like this that annoy me:


NO. It's a Vita game, not a home console game. Pretending that this exact game would not be the best shooter on a console game, which doesn't have any of the limits of the Vita is not a "real test". Nor does it make Killzone Mercenary "competition" of home console shooters.
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Yeah, it is frustrating. It isn't going to change though, the Vita will continue to be largely assessed as though it were a console rather than a handheld.

I guess it's kinda flattering in a way. Kinda.
 
Lesiroth said:
http://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/modern-combat-4-zero-hour
http://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/nova-3---near-orbit-vanguard-alliance

Pfft, can't even beat Modern Combat 4 or N.O.V.A. 3. Good to know at least these two measure up to PS360 FPS titles. Might as well pack it up Guerilla Cambridge.
and this is why Metacritic is flawed as a metric
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Don't blame metacritic, whatever the algorithm for the average score, if the data are flawed there's no way the final average is good.
Blame the reviewers.
 
So KZ:M gets marks off for not doing anything special ( even though really it is one of the very few FPS titles that offer a variety of play methods in the SP while allowing you to choose your exact loadout) yet COD or halo or pretty much any other FPS gets a free pass?

Yea, sounds fair.
 
I'm not one to place a lot of stock in reviews
which is why I am not reading these since I suck at FPS and won't get this game
but if any of these reviews are critical of the graphics, I don't want to live in this world anymore. The fact that people confuse this as a regular console Killzone should be a testament to what GC has done. It looks amazing and is easily the most impressive game on Vita, graphics-wise.
 
Cornbread78 said:
Wow, some real batshit reviews in there. the true question is it goid enough to go digital or get retail...
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With 32GB being the max, I struggle hard enough to install all the digital games I have (and get with PS Plus), so with the game being 4GB (and first patch being 1190MB), I'd say retail is definitely the way to go.
 
Aiii said:
With 32GB being the max, I struggle hard enough to install all the digital games I have (and get with PS Plus), so with the game being 4GB (and first patch being 1190MB), I'd say retail is definitely the way to go.
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I have a 16Gb card.. I have all the games I want to play on my card. Once I finish a game I delete it, so space is not a problem for me.
 
Fuck Nowgamer to be honest. I'm pretty sure they gave it a low score for click bait. They've been a failed wannable IGN/Gamespot for a few years now. I used to go on their TPCG forum until it completed died and Nowgamer shut it down,

Anyone noticed the typos in their Killzone review too.
 
The_Darkest_Red said:
It was the same way with the PSP, you know?
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Im not so sure. Resistance on PSP reviewed great. Personally I thought its single player was pretty awful. Just one big cliche full of stereo types.

Although I havn't played to man PSP games to be sure. I find it hard to believe it was as bad as how the Vita is treated by some sites.
 
I feel a bit sorry for Vita devs. People complain there aren't enough AAA titles, but when AAA titles do get released, journo's compare them with full console games instead of treating them as handhelds. Mercenary more than most perhaps, given how visually competent it is.

It is interesting seeing the gulf between GAF beta impressions and some of these reviews.
 
Why does some of these review feels like "because it's a handheld game.." and then they're completely unwilling to give it higher. Maybe I'm wrong though, I haven't read all of them..

A short campaign is a shame though. Was hoping for more.
 
OmegaTreeFish said:
Im not so sure. Resistance on PSP reviewed great. Personally I thought its single player was pretty awful. Just one big cliche full of stereo types.

Although I havn't played to man PSP games to be sure. I find it hard to believe it was as bad as how the Vita is treated by some sites.
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I thought Resistance PSP was absolutely fantastic for a handheld game. To be fair I did play it for the first time on the Vita and using the right stick for the face buttons is super comfortable. Cliche characters or not the presentation was top notch for a PSP game and the gameplay was really fun.
 
Killzone Mercenary deserves to be marked down because it isn't ambitious enough and doesn't match up to home console shooters, eh?

Can only imagine these guys must have shit all over Mario 3D Land for being so scaled down and lacking in content compared to every other 3D Mario title.
 
Gameplay should definitely always be compared directly to home console games (and other dedicated handhelds), while graphics shouldn't. The multiplayer player limit should only be listed as a downside if it negatively affects gameplay (in the beta this certainly wasn't the case, as the map was a good size. I don't care if I shoot two different people or the same person twice!)

The funny thing about the graphics being compared to console games is that Killzone on Vita looks a lot nicer than older games like COD4 on PS3 in my opinion (especially on the smaller screen size).

The "lack of innovation" style complaints are bizarre, considering the money transfer between SP and MP and the stealth options etc. Mercenary is much more innovative (as far as I've seen in trailers) than COD/Battlefield.

Overall the lower scores are disappointing, but at the end of the day a high 70% Metascore is hardly awful. Sony's main concern should be advertising the game to people who haven't heard of it, but we all know how likely that is ;)
 
2+2=5 said:
Don't blame metacritic, whatever the algorithm for the average score, if the data are flawed there's no way the final average is good.
Blame the reviewers.
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I agree. Each platform should be viewed solely on its own merits, or at the very most compared to its immediate peers. Trying to measure the Vita against that which the PS360 can accomplish is so flawed and ridiculous.

sunnz said:
So KZ:M gets marks off for not doing anything special ( even though really it is one of the very few FPS titles that offer a variety of play methods in the SP while allowing you to choose your exact loadout) yet COD or halo or pretty much any other FPS gets a free pass?

Yea, sounds fair.
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It will be interesting to see how Shadow Fall is received. It genuinely looks to be doing some things differently for the series, but I wonder whether that will be taken into consideration or they'll just roll out the usual "not as good as Halo lol" crap.

Prince Vultan said:
Killzone Mercenary deserves to be marked down because it isn't ambitious enough and doesn't match up to home console shooters, eh?

Can only imagine these guys must have shit all over Mario 3D Land for being so scaled down and lacking in content compared to every other 3D Mario title.
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No, these rules don't apply to 3DS games because it's... less... powerful?!
 
Pinktaco said:
Why does some of these review feels like "because it's a handheld game.." and then they're completely unwilling to give it higher. Maybe I'm wrong though, I haven't read all of them..

A short campaign is a shame though. Was hoping for more.
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As far as the length of the game goes, it still sounds like it's longer than modern console Call of Duty games, but critics never complain about that. Also from the sound of it the campaign has quite a bit of replay value and there's different ways to play through each mission. Again, more than I can say for most recent console COD games, yet they get loads of praise from critics.
 
I Wanna Be The Guy said:
I thought Resistance PSP was absolutely fantastic for a handheld game. To be fair I did play it for the first time on the Vita and using the right stick for the face buttons is super comfortable. Cliche characters or not the presentation was top notch for a PSP game and the gameplay was really fun.
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I played it on Vita as well. I thought graphics were good for its time but everything was really uninteresting for me. Story was generic as ever. Controls were clever considering it was designed for PSP so I give it that.

However the reviews made out its story was something really interesting. It was no more interesting that Burning skies and that was pretty generic as well.

Point is that got judged as a PSP game not as a console game.
 
I had a lot of trouble connecting to multiplayer matches during the beta which is the only thing keeping me from jumping on board. In the matches I did play it seemed like it could be a lot of fun.
 
Prince Vultan said:
Killzone Mercenary deserves to be marked down because it isn't ambitious enough and doesn't match up to home console shooters, eh?

Can only imagine these guys must have shit all over Mario 3D Land for being so scaled down and lacking in content compared to every other 3D Mario title.
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Seriously. 3D Land was a great game for a handheld platformer and one of the best games you can find on 3DS. But directly compare it to the Galaxy games and 3D Land becomes a joke. Yet it didn't get the criticism that Vita games get for not being as good as console games. It's bullshit.
 
I couldn't care either way, but if the KZM is getting points docked for having the limitations inherent in the Vita then every console FPS should get points docked off for having the limitations of a controller. The 360/PS3 controller is as big a limitation as the Vita controls are.
 
OmegaTreeFish said:
I played it on Vita as well. I thought graphics were good for its time but everything was really uninteresting for me. Story was generic as ever. Controls were clever considering it was designed for PSP so I give it that.

However the reviews made out its story was something really interesting. It was no more interesting that Burning skies and that was pretty generic as well.

Point is that got judged as a PSP game not as a console game.
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I didn't think the story was that interesting myself, though I did really like the main character and again, I thought the presentation was top notch and I enjoyed the cutscenes even if I wasn't super engaged with the story. Though to be honest it's VERY rare I get engaged with a game story anyway. Usually when I play games I watch the cutscenes without really paying attention. I'm a gameplay man.

But yes, it got judged as a PSP game as it should have been. Just as Killzone should be judged as a Vita game, and it's unfortunate that it's not.
 
RibbedHero said:
I couldn't care either way, but if the KZM is getting points docked for having the limitations inherent in the Vita then every console FPS should get points docked off for having the limitations of a controller. The 360/PS3 controller is as big a limitation as the Vita controls are.
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I don't see an alternative to the reality here. What are you proposing?
 
Oh, so we do have a review thread. As I already said in the OT, I can just shake my head at those low reviews. Vita tax at its best!

It's a good shooter, even by console standards. Strangely, they are even harsher on it than on console titles although it's a handheld game.

I guess we will never see a >90 metascore on an Vita exclusive with this mindset.

Exclaimer: yes, I played it.
 
The good reviews are great.
The fair reviews are great.
The lower scoring reviews still sound... great!
If you look pass the console comparisons
:D
 
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