Guerrilla Cambridge has released a new game update to address certain multiplayer inconsistencies in PlayStation Vita first-person shooter Killzone: Mercenary. I’ve played five matches since the update, and so far the results are mixed.
The good news is that respawn points have been tuned to be much more balanced. Up to now my main beef with the multiplayer has been the random nature of the respawn points. On far too many occasions I would respawn near enemies, given no chance to react before being shot and having to respawn again. Now, from my handful of post-update matches, it does seem like the game is doing a better job of respawning me near squad mates or in areas where I have a fair chance to get back into the match without being immediately blindsided.
On the downside, for me connection stability has been far worse than it was prior to the patch, not better. Maybe it’s just a sudden influx of players cramming online after the update, I don’t know. But in those five matches I was only able to finish two from start to finish. I was disconnected in progress on the other three, which isn’t a good ratio considering in well over 50 online matches before the patch I only ever experienced disconnects on maybe six or seven matches. It’s only fair to give it more time for the update to settle in though.
The only other drag is the file size. Like Mercenary‘s first patch at launch, update version 1.02 eats up an alarming 1190MB. Yes, a patch that is larger than many full Vita games. Fortunately this update doesn’t stack on top of the previous update, it replaces it. You will need to clear up enough room for the download, but once the update is applied you will get the space used for the download back. Guerrilla’s coders are working on a way to reduce the game’s enormous file sizes, but admit that it is highly unlikely the game will ever drop below 4GB.
According to the official patch notes, update 1.02 features connectivity improvements, network traffic optimizations, a revision to multiplayer spawn system, a fix for failed loadout unlock, a fix for failed melee medal rank up, and stability fixes.
Any other Killzone mercenaries out there? What has your post-update multiplayer experience been like?
Killzone: Mercenary Updated Today [PlayStation.Blog]
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Man, the more I play (or try to play) Mercenary the more this patch seems to have ruined the multiplayer. The fixed respawns is great, but I can’t seem to stay connected to matches any more.