Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Review - The Best Flying, the Worst Script

Seven years after Skies Unknown, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve landed on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam got it a day early, on October 1, consoles on October 2). I have put in roughly fifteen hours across the campaign and a handful of online sorties, and my feelings are split cleanly in two: in the cockpit this is the best the series has ever been, and the moment the engines go quiet it starts getting in its own way.

What it is

An arcade flight shooter from Bandai Namco Aces, the studio formerly known as Project Aces. You play Rex, a navy pilot of the Federation of Central Usea, fighting a Sotoa invasion. For the first time in the series every cutscene is in first person, so you only ever see the war through Rex's visor. The standard edition is EUR 69.99 locally; the Deluxe is USD 89.99 and bought you three days of early access from September 28, which is a pricing pattern I keep hating and publishers keep doing.

How it plays

The core loop has not changed and does not need to: lock on, roll, dump missiles, chase the next target before the music drops. What has changed is everything around it. Clouds now drag water across your canopy, storms genuinely wreck your sensors, and the new debris system means a downed bomber scatters wreckage that can take out the escorts flying under it. Chain reactions in the big set-piece missions feel like a fireworks finale you lit yourself. The flight model is still forgiving arcade stuff, which is correct - this is a game you should be able to play on a controller with a beer in the other hand.

Mission variety is better than Skies Unknown. There are proper naval engagements, a canyon run that had me sweating, and a couple of superweapon fights that earn their scale. The low point is the mid-campaign stretch where three missions in a row are "defend this thing while waves arrive" and the game forgets it had better ideas.

The lows

The story. The first-person framing is a neat trick, but the script throws factions, acronyms and double-crosses at you faster than the radio chatter can explain them, and the audio mix often buries the plot under engine noise. I finished the campaign able to tell you what happened but not why.

Then there is multiplayer. Co-Op Assault (4v4 score race against AI) and Co-Op Warfare (4v4 with NPC units in the mix) are both good, the 100-player Air Base lobby is a fun hangout, and cross-play works. But the online mode has its own progression and a storefront aggressive enough that I stopped opening the hangar menu. On console, Graphics mode also stutters when the sky is full; Performance mode is the only one I recommend.

Who it's for

Anyone who has ever enjoyed an Ace Combat, and anyone curious who has a PS5 or Xbox and wants a fifteen-hour spectacle. Sim pilots will be bored. Story-first players will be confused.

Verdict

The flying is spectacular and generous enough to carry a muddled script and a shop I never wanted. I just wish the studio had trusted the planes to do the selling.

Score: 8/10

Image: U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Darion Boyd / Public domain, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:177th_Fighter_Wing,_108th_Wing_Strengthen_ACE_Capabilities_during_Operation_Pegasus_Dawn_(8731355).jpg