Review: Ace Combat Joint Assault (PSP)

Ace Combat takes flight with its second sortie on the PSP, Joint Assault. It comes with some very welcome changes for the series, as it was starting to become a bit formulaic, even for a diehard Ace Combat fan like myself.

In Joint Assault you play the role of a rookie pilot with a PMC (Private Military Corporation) as you try to stop a group of terrorists bent on the destruction of the 'capitalist' world. The story does get a little convoluted once you uncover who is backing the terrorists and what their real plan is, but despite this, it's still enjoyable. This is probably the only time in a game that a PMC is portrayed as being the good guy, a nice change from the standard 'PMC=bad guy' formula. Speaking of changes, this is the first time an Ace Combat game has been set in the real world, rather than the fictional one of the past seven games, and the developers take full advantage of this.

Graphically Joint Assault looks like its PS2 brethren of Ace Combat 4, 5 & Zero, but for the first time in the series' history all of the game's levels are created using satellite imagery. This helps to make settings such as Tokyo, London and San Francisco very believable. The graphical models of all the aircraft are very well done and each aircraft handles as they should, helping cement the games reality. The 747 piloting mission, another first, definitely is a stand out representation of this individual plane handling. The game controls incredibly well, and I had no problem transitioning from using the flight stick I normally use for Ace Combat games to the PSPs control layout.

Joint Assault offers a robust multiplayer, with the online dogfights from Ace Combat 6 returning, but beware: you need some serious skills to hang with these aces. It also offers a series of co-op single player missions using the PSPs Ad-Hoc mode, giving the game its call-sign of 'Joint Assault'.

All around Ace Combat: Joint Assault is a must buy for any fan of the Ace Combat series, while still also being incredibly accessible to the casual player looking for something to pick up for their PSP.

Submitted By: Aaron McKeever (Employee)