Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve review – Thrilling aerial battles

It’s been seven years since the last Ace Combat game, and with little competition on the market, another one is more than welcome. And as you’d expect, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is yet another thrilling arcade-styled flight sim, with exciting dogfights to be found across a lengthy campaign and multiplayer offerings.

The story at the heart of the Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve campaign isn’t the easiest to follow at times, but you’ll soon warm to its characters, which is enough to drive you forward. The gist is, in the aftermath of the Lighthouse War, Sotoan forces have invaded the FCU and now you must fight to liberate it. Needless to say, as an ace pilot, there’s a lot of weight on your shoulders, and as you progress through the story there are twists and turns aplenty.

The real reason you’ll plough on with the campaign of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, though, is because of its engaging dogfighting action. The story scenes between missions are somewhat entertaining, for sure, and they look fantastic, but it’s when you’re soaring through the skies that you’ll be in your element.

Like previous entries in the series, missions are varied: you might go from helping ground units by protecting them from attackers in one mission to assaulting a giant land ship in another. There are new types of missions, too, such as annihilation missions in which you need to achieve a score target within a time limit to accomplish your goal.

Your success in any given mission is somewhat determined by your plane and the weapons at your disposal. Thankfully you can purchase new planes as you progress through the campaign, as well as additional weapons and various upgrades, allowing you to mix things up and play to your strengths. You can choose to set up the planes of your wingmen as well, or choose to let the computer do it for you.

As enjoyable as the campaign of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is, though, there are some issues that might annoy. There’s still no easy way to track your closest target, for example, forcing you to arduously tap a button to cycle through them which isn’t the best in the middle of a heated battle. Sometimes you might find yourself failing a mission due to your objective not being all that clear as well.

With 30 missions to conquer, the campaign of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve will likely take you over 20 hours to complete, and then you might return to replay missions in Free Mission mode to improve your grade. A Free Flight mode is available, too, for when you just want to take to the skies without any stress.

Throw in a suite of multplayer options, and you have what is undoubtedly the most generous Ace Combat game yet. You can team up with others to complete co-op missions, face off against other players in Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch, and much more. It all works wonderfully, with a hub to explore between matches where you can play arcade games and socialise.

If you’re a fan of the Ace Combat series, it’s safe to say you won’t be disappointed with Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. It’s a game with stunning presentation, exciting aerial combat and plenty of content, offering tens of hours of fun whether you play it online or not. The nature of the game’s story, as well as difficulty options, make it suitable for newcomers, too. So, if you fancy taking to the skies and testing your mettle in a range of adrenaline pumping missions, this is for you.