Ace Combat: Joint Assault

Ace Combat: Joint Assault is a combat flight simulation game but it is presented in a more arcade-like format in contrast to other flight-sim games. The game features both a single-player mode as well as a multiplayer mode supporting ad hoc and infrastructure mode. The game features a co-operative campaign which can be played with up to four players as well as a competitive multiplayer mode supporting up to eight players. Some missions in the campaign will make use of the Joint Assault Mission System, which breaks the players into teams and has them coordinate attacks where each effort can affect the other team's situation. A new feature of the game is the Enhanced Combat View mechanic, which removes the distanced fighting seen in almost every flight simulation game.

Joint Assault features more than 40 licensed aircraft types, plus fictional aircraft from previous installments in the series, particularly Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. Propeller planes are also available for the first time in the series, with players being able to unlock the F6F-5 Hellcat and the A6M Zero. Frequent use of each aircraft allows the player to unlock more weapons, tune-up parts, paint schemes, and new emblems. The game's official superfighter is the GAF-1 Varcolac.

Joint Assault is set between 2010 and 2011 in a rendition of Earth, as opposed to Ace Combat's typical fictional setting of Strangereal. Up to four players assume the role of Antares Squadron, pilots hired by a private military company called Martinez Security, assigned under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Burford. Another squadron within the company, Rigel, consists of pilots Milosz Sulejmani, Daniel Oruma, Faryd Gaviria, and Tolya Kiriakov. The game's antagonists are Romanian Colonel Nicolae Dumitrescu and international insurance businessman Andre Olivieri.

During a military exercise involving Martinez Security, the U.S. Seventh Fleet, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force off Midway Atoll, the international high-tech terrorist group Valahia launches a massive attack on Japan. Antares and Rigel Squadrons support the Seventh Fleet and the JSDF in the defense of Tokyo, the Izu Islands, and the Bōsō Peninsula, while also destroying Valahia's airborne aircraft carrier Orgoi and damaging their aerial battleship Spiridus. However, Rigel Squadron defects to Valahia upon accepting a lucrative offer by Dumitrescu, Valahia's leader.

The game was officially announced by Namco Bandai on 12 January 2010, although screenshots had been leaked a day before on IGN. The game officially went gold on 13 August.

Ace Combat: Joint Assault received "mixed or average reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 36 out of 40.

GameSpot and IGN stated that the game's story was not as dramatic as those from previous titles, and its saving grace is the co-operative play options and the easy access to new rewards. GamesRadar+ cited the PSP's control options as a letdown compared to console versions, but lauded the Joint Assault system as an idea worth seeing in future games, especially with Assault Horizon.