Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (エースコンバット アサルト・ホライゾン Esu Konbatto Asaruto Horaizon) is the newest installment of the Ace Combat combat flight simulation series.

Setting
This is the second Ace Combat title (the only other being Ace Combat X2: Joint Assault) to take place in the real world.

The teaser recently released by Project Aces on August 9, 2010 shows a large-scale invasion of the American city of Miami, Florida, alongside a military raid of a Middle-Eastern looking city (presumably Iraq/Dubai/Afghanistan). It is also said by game retailers that the game's predicted release date will be Jun 3, 2011, although some retailers are predicting as far as October. In the February 2011 edition of Game Informer, the predicted release date is February 1st, 2011 (in the February Calendar of the edition).

The teaser also shows that the player will take part in the story as an Apache pilot who is part of the "Nomad Squadron", and as William Bishop, a F-22A Raptor pilot who is part of the "Warwolf Squadron". The only confirmed enemy ace as of now is Colonel Andrei Markov, AKA "Akula" (who is so called for the Shark's mouth on his Su-35BM's nose), who shoots down the pilot of the F-22 in the teaser and supposedly slams into the parachuting pilot.

The Tokyo Game Show 2010 extended trailer shows an F-16C Fighting Falcon attacking ground targets, chasing enemy aircraft, and possibly destroying an oil refinery in the Middle East, and during this sequence of events there appears to be radio chatter in different language (possibly Russian), which could possibly mean the radio chatter language will vary depending on the location and the enemies encountered. Also, an F-35B Lightning II can be seen destroying incoming enemy Tu-95 Bears and their Su-33 Flanker-D escorts. Note that the F-35 has external weapons, quite possibly meaning you can choose to configure certain aircraft depending on the mission at hand. Because of this, it is also possible that your stats (Power, mobility, stability, etc) and the number of weapons a player can carry will vary with the configuration.

Gameplay
Footage shows a massive improvement of the standard AC physics engine, with a hostile Su-33 Flanker-D fighter performing the Pugachev's Cobra to evade the player, with the player performing a Kulbit, alongside a revamped destruction engine, as shown by debris coming out of battle-damaged structures. Furthermore, the footage shows a helicopter raid in a Middle Eastern-esque location, with insurgents being killed by gun fire from said choppers, presumably indicating that the players will be able to pilot helicopters, which is a major change in aircraft selection (like the inclusion of the World War II A6M Zero & F6F-5 Hellcat in Joint Assault). For the damage modifications, buildings and other planes actually 'explode' like the real thing, sending debris everywhere, making you have to dodge it. However, as seen in the trailers, the plane might only be able to fly the novice style, meaning it may be harder to control the aircraft accurately also it comes with the Slow-mo camera style for extreme or epic kill made.

Plot
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon takes place in early 2015. At this time, increasingly common attacks have come from an unknown superweapon controlled by an anti-government militia in East Africa. The plot follows the story of US pilot Colonel William Bishop and wingman José Gutiérrez as they travel across the globe, searching for answers about the militia attacks and the ones responsible while a war between United States of America and the Russian Federation breaks out.



List of spotted aircraft
The aircraft listed below were all spotted in the trailers or screenshots:
 * Su-25 Frogfoot
 * Su-33 Flanker-D
 * F-22A Raptor
 * MH-60L BlackhawkAH-64D.jpg
 * F-15C Eagle
 * AH-64D Apache Longbow
 * A-10A Thunderbolt II
 * Su-24 MP Fencer-F
 * Tu-95 Bear
 * F-16CJ Fighting Falcon
 * F-35B Lightning II
 * Su-35BM Flanker-E
 * EF-2000 Typhoon (in the iPhone/iPod app, very likely in Assault Horizon too.)
 * Rafale M (In the iPhone/iPod app, very likely in Assault Horizon too.)
 * F-14D Super Tomcat
 * F-2A Viper Zero (seen in behind the scenes trailer as a model plane.)
 * Mi-24 Hind
 * AC-130 Spectre
 * B-2A Spirit
 * MiG-29K Fulcrum
 * F-15E Strike Eagle

Trailers
Video:Ace Combat: Assault Horizon - Announcement Trailer|Announcement Trailer

Video:Ace Combat Assault Horizon Debut Trailer|Debut

Video:ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON - PS3 / X360 - Behind the Scenes|ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON - Behind the scenes trailer

Video:Ace Combat: Assault Horizon - Featuring Close Range Assault|Ace Combat:Assault Horizon's Close Range Assault Battle System

Video:ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON - PS3 / X360 - Theater of War|Ace Combat Assault Horizon - Theatre of War