Ace Combat: Joint Assault marks the franchise's return to later this year following turbulence with an and iPod touch instalment that met both critical and commercial disdain.

Namco Bandai's aerial series has long been the standard bearer and this new cooperative-focused PSP iteration hopes to continue that tradition. A single player campaign will be included, but it's team-based that has our interest.

These missions have you and friends breaking off into teams that tackle different objectives on two separate maps. promises that objectives completed on one map affect conditions on the other.

Competitive multiplayer is also planned for up to 8. Both ad-hoc and infrastructure modes (local and online, respectively) are supported.

Namco hasn't provided a firm release date, pledging take off sometime "this year."

By Tracy Erickson