Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve – The Sky Is Where the Craziest Battles Happen

After so many years of waiting, I once again found myself sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet, watching enemy aircraft appear around me and trying to decide whether it was better to keep attacking or pull away from a situation that had become far more dangerous than it initially seemed. One enemy was on my tail, another was trying to cut me off, the missile warning refused to stop, and there was just enough space ahead of me to attempt another sharp turn and get a lock on my target. It is precisely in moments like these that Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve shows why this series has remained so enjoyable for so long.

After seven years of waiting, Project Aces returns with a game that does not try to completely reinvent the formula longtime fans already know, but instead takes that foundation, polishes it and rebuilds the elements that have always made Ace Combat so much fun. Massive aerial battles, impressive enemies, superweapons, huge missile payloads, dramatic radio communications and music that knows exactly when to raise the intensity are all here, but they now look better and work even more convincingly.

I played Ace Combat 8 primarily for its campaign and combat, and those are exactly the parts of the experience that left the strongest impression on me. This is not a simulator that wants to bury you under complicated procedures and make you think about every detail of flying an aircraft. It is an arcade flight shooter that wants to make you feel like you have become part of a massive aerial operation, and most importantly, it succeeds.

Combat Is the Heart of the Game

The biggest strength of Ace Combat 8 is without a doubt its combat system, because the game manages to find a very good balance between accessible controls and situations that can become surprisingly demanding once you find yourself in the middle of a serious dogfight. Veterans of the series will immediately feel at home, while newcomers should not have much trouble understanding the basic principles of flying, shooting and maneuvering, but that does not mean the game will be easy all the time.

When you find yourself in a proper dogfight, everything that seemed completely under control just a few seconds earlier can change incredibly quickly. An enemy is on your tail, the missile warning keeps blaring, you are trying to make a sharp enough turn to get out of its line of fire, while at the same time making sure you do not put yourself in an even worse position. There were several moments during my playthrough when my hands were literally sweating, because I knew that one wrong maneuver could completely change the situation.

That is when you really see how well the High-G Turn works, allowing for extremely aggressive changes of direction and often proving decisive when you are trying to escape an enemy or get behind them. Of course, using it is not completely risk-free, so you have to be careful not to overdo the maneuver and put yourself in an even worse position.

The best moments in combat come when you stop thinking about which button you need to press and simply start following the enemy aircraft, reacting instinctively to what is happening. After several failed attempts, finally pulling off the right maneuver, getting a lock and watching your missile hit its target feels genuinely satisfying. Ace Combat 8 does not need to be a realistic flight simulator to make aerial combat feel meaningful; it simply needs to make you make the right decision at the right moment.

Simple Controls That Still Leave Room to Master the Game

One of the things I particularly appreciate is that Ace Combat 8 understands what it wants to be and has no need to pretend that it is something else. The series has always been much closer to arcade-style flying than traditional simulation, and the controls are designed so that players can get into the action as quickly as possible.

That does not mean everything is shallow. Once you begin to understand how to use speed, altitude and different maneuvers, the battles become considerably more interesting. It becomes especially important to learn when to pursue an enemy and when it is much smarter to let them make a mistake before taking advantage of their poor positioning.

Wingman commands also return, allowing you to give different orders to your squadmates during missions. You can direct them toward specific targets, tell them to spread out and attack enemies in the surrounding area, or order them to provide cover. While the system is not particularly complicated, it can be very useful in certain missions, especially when you are dealing with aerial, ground and naval targets at the same time.

A good example is a situation where you have to deal with several different threats quickly. Instead of trying to do everything yourself, you can leave part of the job to your allies and focus on whatever is most important at that moment. Because of this, the wingman commands do not feel like a feature added simply to give the game another mechanic; they can genuinely influence how a mission plays out.

Every Aircraft Can Be Tailored to Your Playstyle

Progression through the campaign is tied to the credits you earn during missions, which can then be spent on new aircraft and various upgrades through the Aircraft Tree. As you progress, you unlock better aircraft and gain more opportunities to customize their characteristics.

I particularly like the fact that you can modify things such as maneuverability, weaponry and defensive systems, because choosing an aircraft is not simply a matter of picking whichever model looks the coolest. Some missions are better suited to aircraft specialized for aerial combat, while others will favor machines capable of dealing with ground or naval targets more efficiently.

Additional special weapons provide even more room for customization, allowing you to think about what you are actually going to face before starting a mission. If you know that you are going to encounter a large number of ground targets, there is little reason to use a loadout designed entirely around fighting other aircraft, while the situation changes completely when a mission becomes focused on aerial combat.

The system is not overly complicated, but that is precisely why it works so well alongside the rest of the game. You do not spend more time in menus than in the cockpit, but you still make enough meaningful changes to feel like you are preparing your aircraft for the situation ahead.

The Missions Have Enough Variety to Keep the Campaign Moving

On paper, many missions may sound familiar. You have to protect allies, destroy specific targets, maintain air superiority and take part in various operations where certain enemy units need to be eliminated. What makes them interesting, however, is the way the situation develops during the mission itself.

Ace Combat 8 makes very good use of changes in pace. You can begin with a relatively straightforward objective, only for the situation to change and force you to react to a new threat, protect allied units or deal with an enemy that appears at exactly the wrong moment.

Because of this, missions feel like something is actually happening rather than simply being a series of disconnected objectives that need to be completed one after another. Even when the basic objective sounds familiar, the way the game introduces new problems can force you to change your plan in the middle of the battle.

I particularly like the way key missions can raise the stakes and force you to react quickly. If you spend too much time dealing with one target, allied forces can begin suffering serious losses, and certain situations can even result in mission failure. The game therefore does not simply ask you to shoot down as many aircraft as possible; sometimes it requires you to think about what is actually most important at that moment.

Boss Battles and Ace Duels Are the Best Parts of the Campaign

As with previous games in the series, Ace Combat 8 features major opponents who function as something close to boss encounters. Some are enormous war machines, superweapons or heavily armed units that require a different approach from ordinary enemies, while others are elite pilots who force you into much more personal aerial duels.

Those latter encounters were particularly interesting to me because the fight stops being simply about who has more missiles. The enemy is more aggressive, tries to escape and forces you to follow them through a maneuvering battle where you have to find the right moment to attack.

These fights can become extremely intense, especially when the opponent manages to turn the tables and suddenly you become the one being hunted. In those moments, the game really does make you feel like you are fighting someone who is more than just another aircraft that needs to be removed from the map.

I would have liked to see even more of these duels, because they are among the most memorable parts of the campaign, although perhaps that is exactly why they work. If every other mission were a major ace duel, they would lose some of their impact.

The Story Takes a Different Approach to Its Main Character

The story is one of the more interesting elements of Ace Combat 8, even though it has its weaknesses. Instead of simply starting out as an unknown pilot and gradually becoming a legend, the game places you in a much stranger situation where there is already a myth surrounding a great ace, while the reality behind that myth is something completely different.

Your character is actually an ordinary serviceman who survives the war and ends up aboard the aircraft carrier Endurance, one of the last strongholds of the Federation of Central Usea. Due to a shortage of personnel, you are quickly placed into the air force, but at the same time you have to live with the story of a legendary pilot who has essentially become a propaganda symbol.

That idea gives the story an interesting foundation because your rise is not simply about becoming a better pilot. You are also gradually filling the void left by a character who never existed in quite the way people imagined.

The story occasionally goes in a very typical anime direction, with dramatic moments, unusual motivations and a few plot developments that you will probably accept simply because you already understand what Ace Combat is trying to be. However, I see that more as a strength than a weakness, because trying to make everything completely grounded and realistic would actually take away part of the series’ identity.

Your Squadron Is Much More Interesting Than the Main Villains

The members of your squadron are among the characters who work best throughout the campaign. Through radio communications during missions and their development throughout the story, they become more than just voices telling you where the next target is, and their presence helps make the war feel more personal.

Unfortunately, the same cannot always be said about the main antagonists. Some of them feel fairly predictable, especially when compared to the characters on your side, and their motivations are not always developed enough for them to feel like truly complex opponents.

Still, the enemy faction has a very strong presence throughout the campaign. When elite enemy squadrons appear, it quickly becomes clear that they are not simply another group of aircraft that needs to be removed from the map; their presence changes the atmosphere of the mission.

Their entrances, radio communications and accompanying music give them a recognizable identity, and eventually I found myself anticipating their appearances rather than simply seeing them as another obstacle.

The Music Once Again Hits All the Right Notes

If there is one thing the Ace Combat series almost always does exceptionally well, it is music, and Wings Of Theve is no exception.

The soundtrack does a great job of following the changing pace of the game, leaving enough space during quieter moments for you to focus on what is happening, before becoming much more intense during key battles and adding another layer to the feeling that you are taking part in a major military operation.

It works particularly well when the music is combined with radio communications, a major enemy and a moment when the entire situation on screen suddenly changes. That is when Ace Combat 8 achieves the cinematic atmosphere that has become one of the series’ trademarks.

The music is not simply background noise; it is part of the presentation that helps certain missions stay with you even after you have finished them.

Unreal Engine 5 Gives the Game a Genuine Visual Leap

The move to Unreal Engine 5 brings a very noticeable improvement to the presentation, particularly when you are flying high above huge areas and watching entire military operations unfold below you.

The aircraft models look excellent, explosions and missile effects add to the spectacle, while the landscapes give the game a much greater sense of scale. Some of the most impressive moments come when there are large numbers of aircraft, missiles and other effects on screen at the same time, yet the game still manages to maintain a good level of readability.

That is important because visual improvements would mean much less if they made combat difficult to follow. Instead, Ace Combat 8 generally manages to combine spectacular presentation with a clear enough view of what is happening around you.

A Few Small Things Still Get in the Way

Even though I am very happy with the game, not everything is perfect.

Some scenes feature button prompts that feel more like a way of giving the player something to press than a genuinely important part of the gameplay, especially because failing them usually has no meaningful consequences. In those moments, I did not really feel like I was participating in the scene; it felt more like the game was checking whether I was still holding the controller.

The story also has a few moments where the plot relies on convenient developments to move things forward, while some of the villains are not developed enough to leave the same impression as your own squadron.

These are problems that remain relatively superficial, however. Once a mission starts and you are back in the cockpit, it is very easy to forget about them.

Conclusion

Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve is not an attempt to completely reinvent the series, but rather a very well-executed return to a formula that has already proven itself. Project Aces has kept the most important elements intact while improving the combat, missions, progression and presentation enough to ensure that the game does not feel like a simple repeat of previous entries.

Combat is unquestionably the game's biggest strength. It is accessible enough that you can immediately start enjoying it, but it also has enough depth that even after several hours you still have things to learn and improve. The dogfights in which the situation changes from one second to the next are what I will remember most, because there were moments when my hands were literally sweating as I tried to survive an attack and find the right angle for a counterattack.

When you finally outmaneuver your opponent, get a lock and watch your missile hit its target, Ace Combat 8 delivers exactly the kind of satisfaction that makes you want to keep coming back. Add in well-designed missions, excellent boss encounters, an interesting approach to the story, solid progression and a soundtrack that knows exactly when to raise the intensity, and you have one of the strongest arcade flight shooters we have seen in recent years.

It is not perfect, as the story occasionally stumbles, some villains are less interesting than the rest of the cast, and a few small design decisions feel unnecessary, but none of these flaws are significant enough to overshadow what Ace Combat 8 does best.

If you are a longtime fan of the series, you will find everything that made you fall in love with Ace Combat in the first place, now presented in a more modern and visually impressive package. If this is your first encounter with the series, it is difficult to imagine a better way to discover why the combination of speed, spectacle and pure arcade fun has worked so well for all these years.

Score: 9/10

The game was played on: PS5.