Ace Combat: Assault Horizon trailer reveals October release date, shark-themed nemesis

Namco's drastic re-imagining of its Ace Combat flight series is now officially slated for an October 11 US release date, with the Europe release following on October 14. Gone are the fictional cities and near-space-age tech from earlier Ace games - now it looks tofeature real-world locations with comparatively serious storytelling. Even with the harder edge though, I bet there's still a hefty portion of melodrama tucked into this tale penned by military-minded author Jim DeFelice. Also wouldn't be surprised if a world-ending laser beam pops up somewhere too.

Here's the latest trailer out of Namco, called "The Shark." It features an evil ace pilot who's earned the titular nickname.

As a lifelong fan of the Ace series, I'm totally behind this shakeup. LovedAce 6, but the franchise really did need something new to get people excited again. The zoomed-in attacks are no doubt an effort to make jet combat feel more personal and intense, instead of constantly chasing dots on a radar or specks on the horizon. Based on the trailer, it still reminds me of a similar technique used in the Wii-onlySky Crawlersgame... which is from the same developer. Of course, Assault Horizon's approach is ramped up considerably - love all the missile trails and debris flying around the nose of your jet!