Namco Bandai revealed the multiplayer mode that will be featured in the upcoming Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.

Up to 16 players will be able to take part in the "Capital City Battle" mode, in which they will compete in the skies over Wasinghton, Paris, Dubai and Miami (Which isn't really a Capital, but oh well...). The players, split in two teams, will have to aim for the destruction of the enemy headquarters in order to win the match.

Players will have four kind of aircrafts at their disposal, Fighters, Attack Aircrafts, Attack Elicopters and Bombers.

Fighters will be vital in defending the team's headquarters, and in protecting ground-attack aircrafts when attacked by the enemy. They will make large use of a variety of missiles and of the special Dogfight mode (DFM), which is a core feature of the fighter role and can be seamlessly triggered even in multiplayer.

Attack Aircrafts are specialized in low altitude flight and ground-attack, even if some of them can still double as fighters against aerial targets. They use bombs, rockets and multi-warhead air-to-ground missiles, and have a stronger armor. Thanks to the Air Strike Mode (ASM) They can easily unleash a storm of fire against the enemy ground forces and HQ.

Attack Helicopters have their strengths in the ability to move freely in the 3D space and to fly unnoticed below the radar horizon and between buildings. They can hardly stand a chance when targeted by fighters, but they can infiltrate the enemy territory by hovering behind cover and attack the headquarters from behind, easily turning the tide of the battle.

Bombers are a high risk, high returns affair. They pack a tremendous firepower that can easily level the enemy headquarters in a matter of seconds, but due to their low speed and maneuverability they are sitting ducks against enemy fighters, having to rely on collaboration with their own fighter escort to survive.

The multiplayer mode will also feature a skill system, allowing players to level up and gain a wide variety of perks that will influence their performance, improving stealth capabilities or  the turning ratio, augmenting firepower and so forth, giving a level of accomplishment and growth that was absent from the multiplayer in the previous installment of the franchise.

During multiplayer battles players will also be able to use the Friendly Assist System, promoting collaboration between up to three pilots of the same team. Not only they will be able to share the effect of skills, but they will also be prompted to engage ASM and DFM together, increasing their firepower considerably.

Unrelated to the multiplayer, Namco Bandai has been teasing for a while the possible return in Assault Horizon of the fan favorite character Kei Nagase from Ace Combat 5 (in my opinion the very best chapter of the series). They used the character in a promotional blog, and just released a lovely wallpaper focused on her. You can find it in the gallery below, alongside some new spectacular screenshots from the multiplayer mode.