In addition to those who have a PS Plus subscription, or have gotten a Killzone: Mercenary Beta code through PS Hhome, Sony today sent out an emails for those who had registeredĀ for the beta from their website.
Killzone: Mercenary Public Multiplayer Beta will be available one week earlier to Plus subscribers and invited players, who’ll be able to use their Beta code starting this Tuesday, August 20th, after the PS Store has updated. Concerns were made earlier on multiple websites suggesting that the codes received from PS Home were useless, however, know that this is not the case as it was confirmed via theĀ PS Blog.
Guerrilla Cambridge also outlined some details about the Beta, along with some tips to surviving it.
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. Theyāre 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 ā make seven consecutive kills with an assault rifle or LMG
- Hearts ā make five consecutive kills with a secondary weapon
- Spades ā make three consecutive kills with a sniper rifle
- Diamonds ā 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 āhandsā (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 Mercenaryās multiplayer package the most advanced experience to-date on PS Vita. Weāre very excited for launch, but we think the Open Beta will definitely hold you over until September!
So, go ahead and check your emails now, and hopefully you’ll be able to join the fight this 20th. Otherwise, you can look forward to participating in the Beta on the 27th.