TGS 2011: Ace Combat Assault Horizon Multiplayer Hands-On

During Namco Bandai's Pre-TGS event, we had the opportunity to sample two of the featured multiplayer modes that will be included in the latest entry in the long-running Ace Combat Series. With Ace Combat: Assault Horizon launching in only a matter of weeks, fans of the series and those looking for some frantic action in the skies should be in for quite a treat.

There are a handful of multiplayer modes to choose from. On top of the standard Deathmatch and Domination modes, the big inclusion for Assault Horizon is Capital Conquest, a two-part mode that has teams trying to eliminate ground targets and eventually destroy their oppositions' headquarters and win the battle.

The key to success in Capital Conquest is coordinating with your planes and taking out specific targets in a timely manner. To succeed, teams will need to ensure that a good mix of fighter jets and bombers are used in each battle. While planes that are capable of taking out ground targets are in flight, they will need to be protected by quicker fighter jets to have the necessary time required to travel from one point of the map to the other. The map we played was quite large, and moving from one end to the other took a considerable amount of time; being forced back or having your enemies push you away from their base would surely result in a loss. But with the right coordination and smart choices, success can certainly be achieved.

The other mode we had time to fool around with was Deathmatch, and as you would expect, it was quite wild and offered plenty of exciting dogfights. Assault Horizon rewards not only being able to take down enemy planes, but also being able to stay alive as long as possible. Familiar pilots who are capable of turning the tables and can go from being the hunted to becoming the hunter will absolutely love it when those kinds of situations come to fruition, and those scenarios are a very common occurrence. If you've played any of the previous games, then after refamiliarizing yourself with the controls, options, and the plethora of plane choices, you can expect to stay in the skies for a very long of time.

As well as a number of different multiplayer options, co-op will be available and included this year, along with the ability to take part in helicopter co-op missions. Again, the wait for Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is not a long one, as it will hit store shelves on October 15 for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.