A Veteran Team’s Crown Jewel

Every time humanity thinks it’s experienced the war to end all wars, old men come up with new reasons to start a new one and send the young to settle the argument.

The Ace Combat series has never shied away from overt commentary on contemporary politics, but none of them are as bold as Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve.

Project Aces’ latest entry is a tale of resistance against unsurmountable odds, all wrapped up in the team’s trademark mix of anime over-the-top storytelling and an undying love for aviation.

Ace Combat 8 also isn’t shy about the growing influence megacorporations have in modern warfare, but I’ll leave the military-industrial complex speech to the late President Eisenhower. It’s time we talk planes.

Should We Try Our Luck Once More?

I started my love affair with Ace Combat way back in 2002, blitzing through the first three games, and though life would take me to more realistic flight simulators, I’ve always held a soft spot for the series. Now, as Central Usea fights for its very survival, I am reminded of why these games have remained influential for so long, and why we need Project Aces to keep making them.

Ace Combat 8 greets you with abject chaos. FCU forces are in disarray following the Sotoan invasion, and survival seems hard enough a goal. After being fished out of the water by the Endurance aircraft carrier (based on the USS Hornet, CV-12), you join a composite squadron cobbled together from surviving pilots and aircraft.

A tale of resistance against unsurmountable odds, all wrapped up in the team’s trademark mix of anime over-the-top storytelling and an undying love for aviation.

The game’s attention to detail is on full display from the very beginning. Flight suits, aircraft, deck crews, and even utility equipment are modelled to perfection. It’s this kind of passion for even seemingly unimportant aspects that makes Ace Combat 8 work so well.

We’re talking about each one of the dozen or so aerodynamic devices on the F-14A reacting as it should under different conditions, or the cockpits being fairly faithful with moving instruments, even if just for show.

The other side of it is the characterization. The supporting characters add flavor, but the soul of the game comes alive in your wingmen. Baxter, Tasha, and Coster each play a key role in the story, and they feel alive in combat sequences on top of the colorful cutscenes.

I do wish there was an option to have the pitch ladder stay visible in third person by default, given how many hours are spent chasing radar contacts in clouds. The only issue with the cockpit view is that the head movements are more limited, and it’s harder to check one’s six as the camera pans much more slowly.

Press X to Pay Respects

Ace Combat 8 has the most powerful wingman commands in the series. By default, your wingmen try to keep up with you in a loose finger four formation. It’s up to you to decide whether you want them to stick with you in attacks, cover you against enemy fighters, or peel off to hunt for targets individually.

This plays well into the addition of electronic warfare aircraft like the EA-6B Prowler. Flying the fat four-pilot jet, I could complete missions focusing on air defences while wingmen dealt with fighters. I naturally ended up having to fend off some attackers myself, but the support role is one that was missing in earlier games, and which will complement the Area 88-style multiplayer nicely.

Baxter, Tasha, and Coster each play a key role in the story, and they feel alive in combat sequences on top of the colorful cutscenes.

Wingmen handling sparky business still works, making missions against heavily defended targets a tad easier, but since there are no individual controls, it gets clunky as they will follow the same orders as the pilots in fighters.

This minor gripe in combat doesn’t compare with the biggest sin in Ace Combat, which is a throwback to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare pseudointeractivity. I like being able to look around during cutscenes since it makes you feel more present. What I don’t like, however, is having to press X to progress it a dozen times.

Press X to get off the helicopter. Press X to shake hands. Press X to pick that booger hanging from your nose. You get the idea. This is especially prevalent in earlier sequences, and while it’s not a dealbreaker, it distracts from the otherwise fantastic cutscenes.

As Real as it Needs to Be

Flight dynamics in Ace Combat 8 are understandably not going to be simplified compared to other games, but Project Aces make you feel like you’re flying an aircraft with actual weight to it.

The difference between aircraft is humongous, and I was pleasantly surprised that the ‘personality’ of each plane comes through as expected when compared to my experience in more realistic flight simulators.

The F/A-18C Hornet, the starter plane, is comfortable to fly but feels fairly heavy outside of low-speed maneuvering. Its flight control system has fairly conservative G-limits and roll rates when armed, and you can feel that even when throwing it around with a controller.

As Central Usea fights for its very survival, I am reminded of why these games have remained influential for so long, and why we need Project Aces to keep making them.

With the F-14, you get a lot more freedom of maneuvering, at the expense of stability, especially at higher angles of attack. The Mirage 2000-5 closely matches the blend of power and maneuverability that I’m used to from the DCS World Mirage 2000C. Larger, heavier aircraft like the A-6E and EA-6B, using spoilers for roll instead of ailerons, handle like a bag of bricks and roll so slowly you enter a different time zone before coming around.

The wide variety of aircraft comes with more special weapons than ever before, and the ability to equip a full load of one or two separate ones is great for mission planning. During a particularly sketchy air-to-ground run, I loaded my Super Hornet with laser-guided bombs only, leaving the fighters for my wingmen. That may have made me toothless against them, but that choice paid off when I needed to bomb a heavily defended target out of existence on the double.

Some special weapons do feel a little too situational, and there are some I won’t ever take out again after one mission or two, but that adds flavor to the planning

Becoming Nobody in Particular

The pre-order bonus lets you hang out with a chill guy who loves flamenco and dramatically clutches an assault rifle, but Ace Combat 8 isn’t all about borders.

The cast of Ace Combat 8 is great, and its characters have to be memorable because you are a nobody, and one whose job is to pretend to be someone who doesn’t exist.

Project Aces broaches the topic of propaganda during wartime, and it takes a holistic approach to it. In becoming the legendary Wings of Theve, you embody the last hope many have of defeating the Sotoan invasion. The faith placed in you, manufactured well above your pay grade, also gives way to resentment when you inevitably fail to live up to an impossible legend.

The Wings of Theve tale takes heavy inspiration from the Ghost of Kyiv, a social media rumor started in 2022 about a Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot fighting the Russian invasion, and the legend of Colonel Tomb, a North Vietnamese MiG-21 ace pilot who became the nemesis of American naval aviators without ever existing.

But in times of desperation, is one to blame for believing in Wings? What’s really separating those rooting for a hero from those saying a silent prayer to their deity of choice in wartime?

Ace Combat 8 makes it clear that Wings of Theve is not real, but it makes you feel the weight of the title and make decisions that honor those who believe in Wings because they need to. The people need a hero, and since Dolly Parton is no longer with us, Wings will have to do.

Ace Combat 8 is a love letter to combat aviation in its entirety. It showcases aircraft as bringers of both death and salvation, but from an earnest, human perspective. Pilots become legends all the time, whether deservingly or through fabrication, but even when those stories are false, they have real effects on the world. Ace Combat 8 shows the good, the bad, and the ugly, while offering the most engaging PlayStation 5 air combat experience out there.

Released: October 2, 2026
ESRB: Teen / Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
Developer(s): Bandai Namco Aces