Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve review – brilliant aerial combat game fulfils the Top Gun fantasy — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is set in the alternative world of Strangereal, casting players as a propaganda-invented ace pilot called the Wings of Theve — a premise the reviewer compares to rumors about Ukraine's Ghosts of Kyiv
- The game offers simplified beginner controls alongside an expert scheme with missile-evading rolls and zero-G turns, with action replays automatically selecting flattering camera angles
- Mission variety spans bombing runs, escorts, destroying a railgun-equipped "land battleship" rampaging through city streets, and hunting radar-invisible supersonic planes by spotting their contrails
- New gameplay mechanics include environmental destruction where falling debris triggers chain reactions, plus the ability to glance off surfaces without exploding — a reversal of prior entries where clipping a tree branch caused instant destruction
- Story presentation improves over Ace Combat 7 with fully animated first-person segments, cinematic cut-scenes, and effective smash-cuts, though dialogue occasionally pauses for "convoluted plot exposition"
- The game borrows liberally from Top Gun: Maverick with closeup pilot face-cam shots and lifted story beats, and the reviewer reports being "oddly moved" by the result
- Online multiplayer mode Ace Combat Online was unavailable during the review window, limiting assessment of that component
Why it matters: For Ace Combat series veterans, AC8's environmental destruction, surface-glancing physics, and fully animated first-person story segments mark the most substantial mechanical and narrative evolutions since earlier entries, while simplified controls lower the barrier for newcomers chasing the Top Gun fantasy without the steep learning curve.
Ask SkimNews
