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. The game will feature over 40 licensed aircraft (With the confirmed appearance of the F-4E, F-14D, A-10A, F-22A, F/A-18E, Su-37, EF-2000 & others), with no sights as of yet of Ace Combat's signature original aircraft, such as the X-02 Wyvern. This enforces the concept of making this Ace Combat heavily based on actual-life. Also, with over 40 aircraft, this makes Joint Assault have the second most amount of aircraft in the series (The Unsung War having 53.)
Storyline
There is a new trailer revealing some of JA's story[1]. 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 (purely fictional). 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, apparently called the Spiridus, and apparently a second flying fortress (Seen from 1:18 - 1:26), which bears resemblance to the Arkbird, and appears rather manueverable for its size, no name has been assigned to it yet. Also included in the second trailer, for a few seconds, is the appearance of a flyable F4F Wildcat ot F6F Hellcat, it is unknown if this refers to a sort of flashback mission. 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. Multiplayer is also apparent, and there seems to be an 8-player multiplayer concept planned, as seen in the trailer.
Innovations & Differences
A released screenshot in-game of a Su-37 Terminator flying over Egypt
- 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.
Multiplayer
Following Skies of Deception's MP, Joint Assault will feature non-local area restricted Online capabilities, for the game supports both Ad-Hoc. 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
<videogallery> Video:Ace Combat X2 Joint Assault Japanese Version Trailer|Joint Assault Announcement Trailer Video:Ace Combat Joint Assault - Trailer 2|Trailer #2 </videogallery>
External links
- Official Site
- Ace Combat: Joint Assault Announced on IGN
- Screenshots from Game Informer
- [Ace Combat X2: Joint Assault Official Website: http://www.acecombat.jp/x2/index.html]