Review: Ace Combat 8 wins critics over with dogfights and story

It's set in Strangereal, the series' made-up world. The Federation of Central Usea has been overrun by the Republic of Sotoa. You fly as the Wings of Theve, a legendary ace named after the federation's capital, alongside wingmen Baxter, Tasha and Coster. Together you're Joker Flight. There's a twist in that setup, and most reviewers give it away early. GamesRadar+ and TechRadar both explain that the original Wings gets killed and you're quietly slotted in. The legend is a propaganda project, and you're the replacement.

Online play is the biggest the series has had. Bandai Namco says the Air Base lobby holds up to 100 players across platforms, with co-op modes, limited-time missions and PvP events. There's also a Premium Ace Pass for seasonal rewards, sold on its own or bundled with the Deluxe Edition. Digital pre-orders came with a copy of 2006's Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War and an unlocked F-14A. The publisher also made Hour Zero, a four-part live-action prequel starring Josh Holloway, Brandon Routh and Tamlyn Tomita. It's on Bandai Namco's YouTube channel.

The flying is the headline

Every review we read starts with the dogfighting. GamesRadar+'s Scott McCrae summed the game up as "a thrilling flight through intense encounters that rarely gives you a moment of calm." He wrote that he finished the campaign "really feeling like the ace pilot I'm purported to be," with final missions that "even put the propulsive Top Gun Maverick to shame."

Polygon's Giovanni Colantonio called it "a triumphant return for one of gaming's best series." In his review, he said it sits in "a perfect middle ground between simulation and casual arcade action," easy to pick up but deep enough that every jet ends up feeling different. He compared learning it to learning a Forza game, where you slowly work out when to ease off.

The clouds have their own fan club. TechRadar's Joe Chivers listed "the best clouds in gaming" as a reason to buy. He wrote that they're "beautiful and light on the outside, dense in the middle, like an inverse cookie." PC Gamer's Nova Wright described getting boxed into thick cloud and committing to "a mach-three, nose-down drag race," and called it "one of the best games I've played in years."

The campaign's long, at 30 missions. Colantonio clocked about 25 hours and called it the series' longest "by a country mile." Chivers finished in about 18 hours on PC. Both liked the variety, from escorting boats to shore to a multi-stage fight with a giant tank rolling through a city. Colantonio called that one the story's "finest hour."

A war story about propaganda

The surprise is how many critics liked the story. IGN's Will Borger gave it a provisional 9 out of 10 and said the game "marries exceptional air combat with a melodramatic but moving story, one of the year's best soundtracks, and incredible visual design." McCrae compared its themes to Metal Gear Solid, with social media misinformation and the companies that profit from war. Colantonio saw a nod to the Ghost of Kyiv, the mythical pilot whose exploits spread early in Russia's war on Ukraine. He said the game ends up somewhere hopeful, and admitted he was "willing to embrace Wings of Theve's radical optimism."

Destructoid's Andrej Barovic is new to the series, and he said: "I was genuinely surprised, if not shocked, by how good this series actually is." He called it "one of the best-looking games I've ever laid my eyes on."

The IGN, PC Gamer and Destructoid quotes here come from Polygon's review roundup.

As usual for Ace Combat, the music gets top marks. McCrae put an "incredible soundtrack" first among his reasons to buy. He said the theme of the enemy squadron, the Shadows, kicking in during mission three was "perhaps the only time I can recall saying 'oh my god' aloud."

The catches

The complaints line up neatly. First, the cutscenes. McCrae said it took 45 minutes from switching on to the end of the first mission. Chivers listed "overly long cutscenes" and an "anticlimactic ending" as reasons to avoid it, and headlined his review "soaring combat, snoreworthy story." He still called it "a phenomenal arcade flight sim" and "a great, gorgeous game."

Second, the back half. Colantonio said familiar mission types come back "with only slight variations" late in the campaign, and that wingmen don't always seem to follow orders. Chivers felt wingman commands and loadouts made little difference.

Third, online. Reviewers got very little server time before launch. Colantonio had only a few hours and found Deathmatch rounds over "in the blink of an eye," with menus he called "needlessly convoluted." McCrae said multiplayer was open for a single day while he was reviewing, and listed "online could be much better" against the game. So treat the scores as a verdict on the campaign until the servers have been busy for a while.

Who it's for

If you like fast, cinematic flying and don't need a full simulator, the critics' advice is simple. Get it. TechRadar's "play it if" list sums it up fairly. You want an arcade flight game, you want to live out your Top Gun fantasies, or you want to see what Cloudly can do. Accessibility options are limited, Chivers noted, but there's a colourblind mode, text-to-speech and a simpler flight model.

If you want more from this year's games, our earlier look at Star Wars Zero Company covers another well-reviewed war game, and Grand Theft Auto VI arrives on 19 November.

We haven't played it ourselves, so this is what Bandai Namco and the critics say.