Killzone Mercenary

Sony has added PlayStation TV support to Killzone Mercenary.

You'd be forgiven for thinking Sony had given up on the Vita - at least in the west - after its no-show at the company's major press conferences this year. But according to Sony's UK boss the handheld console is here to stay.

Out now in Europe and days away from its US launch, Killzone: Mercenary for PlayStation Vita is undoubtedly one of the most technologically impressive mobile games on the market, and the first truly worthwhile first-person shooter for Sony's portable games machine. Remember that feeling when you first played Ridge Racer on PSP? It's the feeling that you're playing a game that has no right to look this good on mobile hardware; the sensation that you're getting a full-fat console game running in the palm of your hand. Uncharted: Golden Abyss captured that feeling, and now Killzone: Mercenary makes its case as the definitive article.

Killzone: Mercenary is a game defined by its platform. Not in the sense that it makes such unique use of the Vita's features that it could only ever have worked on Sony's portable powerhouse, but because everything it gets right is sweetened by the addition of the phrase "but on a handheld" at the end.

The fifth entry in Guerilla's long-running dystopian FPS saga, and the first to be developed by the studio's Cambridge offshoot, it's a handsome and confident game that nevertheless loses some of Killzone's identity in the rush to accommodate current genre trends, and that stumbles slightly when adapting to the Vita's touchscreen and stumpy dual sticks.

It certainly looks lovely, translating the oppressive Killzone visual style and applying it to a much smaller screen while keeping most of the detail and texture you'd expect from the PlayStation 3 sequels. Nor does it skimp on features - everything you could do in a big boy console shooter, you can do in this one. That, however, is also part of the problem. Killzone 3 saw the series veering sharply in the direction of the FPS herd, and that drift towards generic continues here.

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PlayStation Plus subscribers can now join Vita shooter Killzone Mercenary's open beta.

The handheld FPS is due to launch in Europe in two weeks, but Plus members get early access to its online portion today.

A demo of PlayStation 3 platformer Puppeteer is also available to download today, again only for Plus subscribers.

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Vita-exclusive Killzone: Mercenary is now accepting sign-ups for a closed beta of its multiplayer.

Would be recruits have until 10:00pm BST on 17th July to sign up. Ostensibly it's first come, first serve so register ASAP. Those enlisted will receive an e-mail with further details.

Killzone: Mercenary is due on 4th September in most of Europe, but not until the 6th in the UK.

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Vita exclusive Killzone: Mercenary will release in the UK on 6th September, Sony has announced.

There are a couple of pre-order bonuses up for grabs depending on where you put your money down.

The BlackJack's Briefcase package offers a double XP boost for a couple of days and gives you a bit of extra cash in the game to buy snazzy weapons.

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PlayStation Vita shooter Killzone: Mercenary will launch in the UK on 18th September, Sony has announced.

The game's action sees players return to events following the first Killzone and revisit moments from throughout the trilogy. Except now you're a work-for-anyone, cold-blooded mercenary. Booyah!

The portable title features nine hour-long missions and an eight-man multiplayer mode. You get a fat bank account which collects your earnings from both, which you can use to beef your character up with new gear and weapons.

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Sony engineers are working to reduce the cost of manufacturing the PS Vita so it can cut the price of the handheld - but that price cut won't happen this year.

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Curtains back, it's Killzone Mercenary, a completely new first-person shooter created by Guerrilla Games for PlayStation Vita.

There has been, before now, unsubstantiated talk of Killzone 4 as a PlayStation 4 game. But now developer Guerrilla has poured cold water on that theory.

Guerrilla Games is making a new Killzone game, according to a report.

Killzone 3 climaxes with the door left tantalisingly open for further adventures – and Guerrilla Games has confirmed that there's "ample opportunity" for a fourth instalment of the spectacular shooter series.

Guerrilla Games isn't making Killzone for Next Generation Portable - Sony Cambridge is.

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Games are the most important thing when it comes to the success of the PSP2 Next Generation Portable, Sony has said.

The first batch of games announced for Sony's brand new NGP (Next Generation Portable - a.k.a PSP2) handheld are as follows.