Even when cutscenes slow it down, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is a thrilling flight through intense encounters that rarely gives you a moment of calm. With exhilarating combat, incredible music, and a shockingly good story you shouldn't miss boarding one of the best entries in this beloved series yet.
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شارەزایانمان لە ماوەی چەند کاتژمێرێکی بێشوماردا پێداچوونەوە بە یارییەکان و فیلم و تەکنەلۆژیادا دەکەن، بۆ ئەوەی بتوانیت باشترینەکان بۆ خۆت هەڵبژێریت. زیاتر بزانە دەربارەی سیاسەتی پێداچوونەوەکانمان.
You know how whenever anyone plays a video game in a film or TV show, they move the controller around like wild and twist their head from side to side? It looks ridiculous, right? Well, as my recent batch of neck pains can attest, that's exactly the kind of behavior that Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve brings out in me whenever I find myself engaged in an intense dogfight or performing a sharp turn in mid-air to stop myself from smashing right into the building an enemy anti-air emplacement was perched on.
Ace Combat 8 continues the series' traditions of breakneck speed, exhilarating flight combat, and having the absolute best soundtracks, but Bandai Namco's renewed focus on cutscene-heavy storytelling does make getting into the action a bit slower from the outset. But, as you fly through one of the series' biggest campaigns to date, the story gets its hooks in, and the pace quickly picks up as each mission offers up a brilliant burst of tight flight combat.
I've been playing action games for as long as I can remember, with multiple replays of the likes of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta being commonplace in my life. Plus, Metal Gear is my favorite series, so I love a good shady government story. Ace Combat is one of my newer loves over the last few years, with Ace Combat Zero and AC7 being particular standouts. – Reviewer Scott McCrae
Release date: October 2, 2026Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|SDeveloper: Bandai Namco AcesPublisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
This time around your voiceless fighter pilot protagonist is Rex of Joker Squadron. And just like many an Ace Combat pilot, they're the best in the biz and are the greatest hope to stop the war. Rex takes on the role as the 'Wings of Theve', a legendary ace whose efforts are spread far and wide across the continent of Usea to inspire hope during the invasion from neighboring Sotoa. Except, the Wings of Theve is a fabrication drummed up through a misinformation campaign, and the real Wings – Cope – was killed in action before Rex took the stage.
I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first about the number of cutscenes. They're a big jump in quality from Ace Combat 7's slideshow style, shown most prominently by the dog not being a JPEG this time around. But, arcadey games suddenly going hard on making me watch a load of videos is usually a red flag, and given it took 45 minutes from booting up the game to finishing the game's first mission, I was a bit concerned. However, as the game goes on, the amount of cutscenes does lessen, and ironically my attachment to them grew thanks to an excellent cast of wingmen, the best rival since Zero, and a Johnny Silverhand-esque inner monologue from Cope to make up for our protagonist's silence.
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