Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception swoops onto PSP

If you were old enough to watch Top Gun when it flew into cinemas in the 1980s, chances are you absorbed the testosterone-drenched atmosphere with the eagerness of a Scotch-Brite pad, yet remained impermeable to the film's deplorable jingoism.

But more importantly, there was only one thing you wanted to do when you grew up (aside from bedding Kelly McGillis) – fly jet fighter planes.

Namco's developers must have felt the same, because they've been making Ace Combat games since they were old enough to get a job.

The series' premise is wonderfully streamlined: enable players to experience everything that is exciting about sitting behind the stick of a fighter plane without having to spend months reading a Yellow Pages-sized manual. Even if you flunked virtual flight school, Namco guarantees you access to cannon rounds, Sidewinder missiles and that all-important afterburner button.

It's safe to assume that just-announced Skies of Deception will continue the series' focus on combat at the expense of the finer intricacies of flight dynamics. If so, this latest Ace Combat is likely to prove a recruit that will benefit the current air combat-lite PSP squadron of genres.

While game details are trickier to pin down than a Stealth Bomber, early intelligence suggests the game (which is due in Japan this autumn) will feature a new 'Strategy AI System' for improved pilot-like behaviour in your opponents, alongside four-player wi-fi support for those critical human-vs-human dogfights.

If nothing else, the latter should determine once and for all who plays Iceman to whose Maverick.