Killzone: Mercenary announced as Vita exclusive at Gamescom

Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified isn't the only console spin-off that will be exclusive to the PS Vita, as Sony's Gamescom press conference also treated us to the announcement of Killzone: Mercenary. Like most spin-offs, Killzone: Mercenary will be quite a bit different from the core Killzone franchise, as this time around you'll be playing as – surprise! – a mercenary working with both the Helghast and the ISA. This marks the first time in Killzone history that you'll be working alongside the Helghast (at least sometimes), so get excited Vita owners.

The game was announced with the short trailer you see posted below. Half live action and half gameplay, the trailer gives us our first look at Killzone: Mercenary on the PS Vita. The graphics actually look excellent (especially for a handheld game), but that's because the folks at Guerrilla Games are working on this entry as well. That's right, the development duties haven't been handed off for this particular spin-off, so we don't have to worry about an unknown studio making a sub-par game in the Killzone franchise.

Not only that, but Mercenary is being made with the Killzone 3 engine, which is why the visuals look so good. With Guerrilla Games developing the title and using the Killzone 3 engine to do so, this might just turn out to be the high-profile, console-quality game the PS Vita needs. Check out the announcement trailer below.

Killzone: Mercenary is scheduled to launch at some point next year, but other than that, details are still pretty scarce. Sony promises that more details will be shared soon, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before more information arrives. Keep it tuned to SlashGear for more details on Killzone: Mercenary!