Group warfare

As beloved as the Ace Combat series may be, we can't help but wonder why it's still not online. Who wouldn't want to hop in the cockpit of a sound-barrier-shattering fighter jet and spray missiles across the countryside? Well, that desire may be relieved somewhat by Ace Combat X's newly announced multiplayer modes.

Two-player split screen's been done in the franchise already, but Ace X will offer five different four-player ways to smoke your friends out of the sky. The most interesting appears to be the squadron escort battle, where you're destroying enemies and securing a safe route for ground troops. The person who gets their troops to an enemy base first, wins.

The other four modes are more standard fare - deathmatch, capture the flag (or beacon, in this case) checkpoint tagging and attack the base. They're traditional in name only, though, as having four fully loaded, real-world jets tearing ass though mountains, forests and the open ocean tends to be more exciting than sneaking around empty warehouses.

Ace Combat X lands on September 19, just before the holiday deluge of software.

June 29, 2006

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Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.