Ace Combat: Joint Assault

The newest addition in the Ace Combat series, Ace Combat: Joint Assault, known in Japan as Ace Combat X2: Joint Assault, is a PlayStation Portable-exclusive title, scheduled to release in Summer 2010 (7th of July 2010 in Japan, as seen in the Japanese Trailer/PV. 29th of June, according to IGN). It is the second PSP Ace Combat game, the first being Ace Combat X. J.A. marks a radical change in Ace Combat, because it separates from the Strangereal setting and focuses on real life locations, such as Tokyo, Egypt, London & San Francisco. A multiplayer demo version of the game will be available on the Japanese Playstation store July 15th.

The game will feature over 40 licensed aircraft (With the confirmed appearance of the F-4E Phantom II, F-14D Super Tomcat, A-10A Thunderbolt II, F-22A Raptor, F/A-18E Super Hornet, Su-37 Terminator, EF-2000 Typhoon & others), with Fenrir, the XR-45 Cariburn, the YR-302 Fregata and the XFA-27 being the only confirmed super aircraft as of July. With over 40 aircraft, Joint Assault is the game with the second most amount of aircraft in the series (The Unsung War having 53). The flagship fighter is the F-22A.

Storyline
There is a new trailer revealing some of Joint Assault's story. As revealed by the latest trailer, players will play as pilots under the Martinez Security 2nd M42 Squadron "Antares Team" during a great economic crisis in the real world in year 20XX. Super weapons also have been confirmed to appear (proved by the 2nd Trailer). There are a lot Super weapon types such as Railguns (Appeared in the 2nd Trailer, around 01:45 - 02:00) and Nuclear Missiles (Appeared in the 2nd Trailer, around 02:07 - 02:27). But the only one confirmed now is a flying fortress, official name Spirious, and the Orgoi(Seen from 1:18 - 1:26), which bears resemblance to the Arkbird, and appears extremely manoeverable for its size. Also included in the second trailer, for a few seconds, is the appearance of a (possibly) flyable F6F Hellcat, which is soon shot down by two Su-37s. Joint Assault will also conclude some of the story of the JA's fictional companies such as Olivieri Life Insurance, Martinez Security itself & the mysterious terrorist group known as "Valahia". And obviously, Joint Assault's story will center around several main characters such as Olivieri Life Insurance CEO Andre Olivieri which is receiving benefits during the war.

Innovations & Differences



 * Similar to the Allied Support system employed in Fires of Liberation, Joint Assault makes use of the Joint Assault Mission System, which breaks the operating forces into teams, and decisions made in one operation can affect the other: for example, the player is in Team A, which is tasked to eliminate a group of whirly birds near Team B's path. If the choppers go down, then Team B will proceed to advance into enemy territory, and knock out the AA defenses.
 * As aforementioned, Joint Assault marks a radical change due to it's setting change: Joint Assault takes place in modern Earth, featuring actual locations, such as San Francisco, Egypt & Midway (note how this features Sand Island AFB, the World War II airbase that became of basis for The Unsung War's Sand Island.)
 * Also, a new addition is the Enhanced Combat View (ECV) mechanic, which aims to remove the long-range visuals seen in most air combat titles in an attempt to turn dogfights into close & personal, one-on-one battles.
 * All 40+ aircraft can be Tuned.
 * For the first time, both special weapons AND primary weapons (missiles) can be changed.
 * You can choose one of 4 pilots to play as at the beginning of the game, and, for the first time, each of the playable pilots have their own voice.
 * Visuals have been improved from X.

Multiplayer
Following Skies of Deception's multiplayer, Joint Assault will feature non-local area restricted Online capabilities, for the game supports both Ad-Hoc Party & Infrastructure connection types. Of course, there will also be adversarial options for the competitive player as well, which can support up to 8 players.

Trailers
Video:Ace Combat X2 Joint Assault Japanese Version Trailer|Trailer #1 Video:Ace Combat Joint Assault - Trailer 2|Trailer #2 Video:Ace Combat Joint Assault - PSP - Gameplay Joint Assault Mission|Gameplay #1 Video:Ace Combat Joint Assault - PSP - Gameplay Enhanced Combat View|Gameplay #2