"Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve": Aircraft action to perfection

Domagoj Belancic

2/10/2026

Translation: machine translated

Pictures: Domagoj Belancic

With the eighth installment of the "Ace Combat" series, Bandai Namco dares little that is new. Instead, the studio perfects the gameplay formula of its predecessors. The strategy pays off.

Stop reading now. Turn on your PS5, Xbox, or PC and get «Ace Combat 8». Just trust me. Go! I'll be waiting here for you until you've bought the game.

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Back again? Wonderful. While «Ace Combat 8» is downloading on the platform of your choice, I'll explain why you made the right decision with your purchase.

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Propaganda and modern warfare

A game with an eight in the title seems intimidating for newcomers. But don't worry: you can play «Ace Combat 8» without any problems, even if you've never flown a virtual jet before.

In the game's futuristic world, there is war. After the nomadic peoples of the Republic of Sotoa destroyed their land through industrial progress, they want to expand. In a brutal blitzkrieg invasion, they overrun the neighboring Federation of Central Usea and capture the capital, Theve.

I step into the role of a silent protagonist. He is recruited as a navigator for a legendary pilot (the titular «Wings of Theve»).

Plot twist: During the very first mission, where I accompany the legend in the back seat of his jet, he dies. Tough luck. Central Usea doesn't want the myth of the «Wings of Theve» to die. That's why I take over the pilot's legacy and fly under a false name for the squadron.

The game highlights exciting topics such as the use of propaganda in modern warfare. However, the altitude (pun intended) always remains personal – the focus is on the quirky characters of the squadron and their relationships with each other.

Overall, the story doesn't blow me away. But it offers enough surprises, plot twists, and bizarre characters to keep me hooked until the end.

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More exciting than the content of the story is the way it is told. The wild mixture of influences reminds me of popcorn cinema à la «Top Gun», mixed with over-the-top anime figures, plenty of pathos, and a good pinch of futuristic Kojima-weirdness.

Especially cool: The graphically impressive cutscenes are interactive. I can move the camera freely from a first-person perspective and zoom, which leads to beautiful bokeh effects. Occasionally, I also press buttons to shake hands or answer questions.

Varied mission design, familiar gameplay

To end the war, I fly and shoot my way through a total of 30 missions. Depending on the difficulty level and skill level, you will need 15 to 20 hours for this.

Although I always do the same thing in every mission (fly and shoot), it never gets boring. The mission design ensures variety with ever-new ideas. I destroy targets within a time limit, escort ships through enemy territory, fly stealth missions under the radar, or search for hidden enemy bases in dense cloud formations.

The expansive game areas also impress with a wide range of settings. I zip over icy mountain ranges, sunny deserts, idyllic natural areas, or densely populated metropolises. The weather conditions also change constantly. Sometimes the sun shines in a cloudless sky, and sometimes I dodge lightning under huge storm clouds.

In short: I never know what to expect in the next mission. After completing a level, I want to jump straight to the next one to be surprised again.

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In between, I unlock new jets and new aircraft parts in a skill tree. Depending on my performance in the missions, I receive more or fewer points that I can invest in unlocking.

Before a mission, I choose the appropriate jet and equip it with earned parts and weapons. The mission briefing tells me whether I should focus more on air-to-air combat or air-to-ground weapons. New is that I can assign specific aircraft to my team members and equip up to two special weapons (instead of one, as before) for my aircraft. This allows my loadout to be determined even more precisely for each mission.

The air battles resemble those from «Ace Combat 7». If you have played the predecessor, you will feel at home immediately. The biggest innovation: I can give orders to my squadron members. For example, they provide me with cover or attack enemy targets independently. Practical.

«Ace Combat 8» lives from moments that no other game offers

Even if «Ace Combat 8» offers few gameplay innovations, the action epic feels refreshingly different in the midst of ever-identical AAA productions. Bandai Namco's aircraft game lives from adrenaline-fueled moments that no other game can even come close to reproducing.

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The missions are hectic. As soon as I take off, my pulse rises. Over the radio, I hear my squadron members and sometimes even the enemies. Everyone is talking wildly, uncoordinated, and excitedly. From this confusion, I have to filter out the relevant information. What do I have to do next? Who needs urgent help where? What have the enemies revealed?

The game punishes me immediately if I am unfocused. If I didn't listen well during the mission briefing or don't understand important changes to the mission objective via radio, it quickly means: «Mission failed».

Besides the volleys of words, I naturally also have to constantly dodge real volleys of fire from enemy jets. With enemy planes, it is also not easy to keep an overview – they attack from all directions.

While playing, I constantly feel like a hero from a Tom Cruise action movie. I dodge enemy missiles with loops. By a hair's breadth, I maneuver my jet around a skyscraper so that I can catch an enemy from behind. At the last moment before impact, I pull my jet up. I shoot down an enemy and fly through the explosion of his aircraft wreckage.

That is just fucking epic and better than any Hollywood movie.

The most beautiful game clouds of all time – and a heavenly soundtrack

Compared to its predecessor, Bandai Namco has significantly further developed an important aspect of the game world in «Ace Combat 8»: the clouds.

With success. I have never seen such beautiful clouds in a game.

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The impressive sky formations are not just decoration. The volumetric clouds have a noticeable influence on the gameplay – and ensure even more great action moments.

If I fly through a dense cloud layer, I can shake off enemy guided missiles. Likewise, it is more difficult to keep enemies in sight within the gray formations.

I shouldn't fly around in the floating water vapor for too long, otherwise my jet will ice up. Some clouds surprise me with thunderstorms that I don't see from the outside.

I am especially hyped in the moments when I penetrate a cloud with my jet. Realistic water droplets form on the screen. The background music suddenly becomes quieter and duller – as if I could no longer hear it well in the dense cloud formation. Goosebumps.

Speaking of background music (and goosebumps): The soundtrack is heavenly. All the epic moments I have described would work only half as well without the musical accompaniment. Sometimes orchestral film music accompanies me, sometimes energetic rock from a fictional in-game band. The range is wide and every song is a hit.

A small preview:

Stutters disturb the idyll

The graphical splendor of the game takes its toll on the PS5 Pro version I tested in the form of annoying stutters.

The fidelity mode offers a sharp 4K image, but fluctuates between 30 and 60 FPS. VRR doesn't help either – the PS5 only supports a limited window of 48 to 60 frames per second.

The performance mode basically works well during the missions. Only rarely do I feel minor drops. The visual compromises compared to the fidelity mode (above all: lower resolution) do not bother me.

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Curiously, the cutscenes also stutter heavily in performance mode. As soon as several characters or effects are visible on the screen, the frame rate drops. A pity, because otherwise the cutscenes with their wealth of detail and atmospheric lighting look almost like pre-rendered animated films.

Pew, Pew, Bang and Boom – also online

In addition to the extensive solo campaign, «Ace Combat 8» also offers an astonishingly extensive online mode. It is significantly more mature than in «Ace Combat 7».

There are various PvE, PvP, and PvPvE game modes to choose from. I like the latter best because they are the most chaotic. Especially satisfying are the moments when I shoot down an opponent from behind while he is chasing an NPC enemy.

The online modes are connected in a persistent lobby, which I explore on foot with my customizable game character. In a small arcade corner, I can even play Namco classics like «Pac-Man».

Of course, numerous cosmetic items, parts, and aircraft await me in the «Ace Combat Shop». Bandai Namco has also integrated a Battle Pass and loot boxes (ugh). With four different currencies, it is not easy to estimate how much the game forces me to spend real money and how much I can earn through in-game achievements.

After a few multiplayer rounds, I am at least cautiously optimistic. So far, the online mode just feels confusing and not pay-to-win.

Either way, the multiplayer aspect of «Ace Combat 8» remains for me nothing more than a nice bonus alongside the excellent single-player campaign.

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So, now the download of «Ace Combat 8» should be finished. Would you rather hold the game physically in your hands (as long as there are still physical PS5 discs)? Below the conclusion, you will find the disc version of the game.

No matter what you decided on: I wish you a lot of fun with this action masterpiece.

«Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve» is available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The game was provided to me for test purposes by Bandai Namco for the PS5 Pro.

In a nutshell

Captivating aerial combat with brilliant staging

"Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve" offers little innovation. Instead, Bandai Namco continues to polish the proven gameplay formula, perfecting the frantic jet action in the eighth installment of the series. The mission design ensures surprises and plenty of variety with every sortie. The adrenaline-pumping dogfights create unique action moments that no other game delivers. Dodging missiles, shooting down enemies, and jetting through massive cloud formations with an epic soundtrack in your ears is just incredibly cool. On the negative side, I noticed some stuttering in the fidelity mode. The solid single-player content is complemented by entertaining online modes. It is a pity that these are already full of microtransactions. However, that does not bother me too much, because the main single-player attraction is aircraft action in perfection.

Pro

• plenty of variety in mission design
• captivating aerial combat with epic moments
• heavenly music
• the most beautiful video game clouds ever
• solid scope with 30 missions and online modes

Contra

• Stuttering in Fidelity mode and during cutscenes on the PS5 Pro
• confusing monetization options in online mode

Video games

Bandai Namco Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve

PS5, EN

3

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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