Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Review

I’ve known about Ace Combat for years. It’s one of those game series I’d regularly see mentioned whenever people talked about PlayStation, arcade flight games or some of the best aerial combat ever put into a video game. Despite that, I’d somehow never actually played one.

So when I started Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve on PS5, I went in with almost no expectations. In my head, I had already decided what this game was going to be. I assumed it would be a fairly serious flight simulator, full of complicated controls, technical jargon and aircraft systems that would take hours to understand. I was very wrong.

Ace Combat 8 is an arcade flight combat game first and foremost, and after spending time with it, I finally understand why this series has developed such a dedicated following. It takes the fantasy of being an elite fighter pilot and turns it into something that is immediately accessible, spectacularly cinematic and, most importantly, incredibly fun.

The best part for me is that I never felt like I was being punished for being a newcomer.

Despite having an eight in the title, Wings of Theve does a surprisingly good job of welcoming new players. The game provides training and more accessible control options before gradually giving you the tools to perform more advanced manoeuvres. I was able to get into the cockpit, point my aircraft at something that needed destroying and start having fun almost immediately.

That accessibility doesn’t mean there’s no depth, either. Once I became more comfortable in the air, I started experimenting with tighter turns, evasive manoeuvres and more aggressive approaches to combat. There’s a genuine satisfaction that comes from learning how to position yourself behind an enemy aircraft, lining up a missile and watching it disappear into the distance before connecting with its target.

And then there’s the moment when everything goes completely insane. Ace Combat 8 understands that fighter jets are cool, and it has absolutely no interest in hiding that fact. Missions can begin relatively normally before escalating into enormous aerial battles, huge explosions and increasingly ridiculous threats. One moment you’re carefully tracking an enemy fighter, and the next you’re dodging missiles while trying to bring down something that looks like it belongs more in a science-fiction movie.

It’s this combination of grounded aircraft and completely over-the-top scenarios that makes the game so entertaining.

The story follows a new conflict in the world of Ace Combat, with the Federation of Central Usea caught up in an invasion by the Republic of Sotoa. I won’t get too deep into the plot because there are some twists and character reveals that are better experienced firsthand, but the basic premise revolves around the legendary figure known as the Wings of Theve.

What makes the story particularly interesting is the way the game presents it. Rather than simply giving you mission briefings and traditional cutscenes, Wings of Theve puts much more emphasis on first-person storytelling. You’re placed directly into the world, spending time with your squadmates and experiencing events from the pilot’s perspective.

As someone completely new to Ace Combat, I appreciated this approach. There are plenty of names, locations, factions and pieces of history to keep track of, and at times I did find myself wondering who exactly was fighting whom. But the presentation kept me interested enough to keep going.

The actual gameplay is where Ace Combat 8 really won me over. The basic loop is straightforward. You choose your aircraft and loadout, receive your objectives and head into battle. Depending on the mission, you might be destroying ground targets, intercepting enemy aircraft, protecting friendly forces or dealing with something much larger and considerably more dangerous.

There’s enough variation between missions to keep the campaign moving, and the game has a fantastic sense of escalation. Just when I thought I had a handle on what the next mission would involve, it would throw something new at me.

Flying itself is remarkably intuitive. Your aircraft responds quickly, and the controls are designed around making you feel powerful rather than overwhelmed. Dogfights are especially enjoyable because they can turn into frantic aerial dances where you’re constantly watching your surroundings, managing your speed and trying to get into the perfect firing position.

Missiles are obviously a major part of combat, but guns and special weapons give you additional options. Choosing the right aircraft and equipment before a mission can make a noticeable difference, and that feeds nicely into the game’s progression system.

As I played, I unlocked new aircraft, weapons and upgrades, giving me plenty of reasons to experiment with different loadouts. There’s a surprisingly broad range of customisation available, and I enjoyed being able to tailor my aircraft to the kind of mission I was about to undertake. It reminded me a lot of an Armored Core game in that sense.

It also adds a little bit of strategy to what could otherwise become a very straightforward action game. Do I prioritise an aircraft with stronger air-to-air capabilities? Do I want something better suited to destroying ground targets? Which special weapon will give me the biggest advantage?

These aren’t complicated decisions, but they’re enough to make the progression feel meaningful.

And then there’s the presentation. Ace Combat 8 looks absolutely incredible on PS5. The aircraft themselves are beautifully detailed, but it’s the environments that really caught me off guard. Flying through clouds, over cities and across enormous stretches of landscape can look genuinely spectacular. The lighting, weather effects and textures do a fantastic job of selling the feeling of actually being high above the ground.

The clouds deserve particular praise. They aren’t simply pretty scenery sitting in the background. Flying through them changes the way you see the battlefield, and there are moments when visibility drops and I had to rely much more heavily on my instruments and instincts.

There are also some fantastic visual details on the aircraft and cockpit that make the whole experience feel considerably more immersive.

I did notice some minor performance drops during particularly chaotic moments. When the screen is filled with aircraft, explosions and other effects, the PS5 can occasionally struggle. They weren’t frequent enough to ruin the experience, but they were noticeable, and hopefully they’re something that can be addressed around launch or shortly afterwards.

Despite that, I was consistently impressed by how good the game looks while actually playing it. This is the kind of game where I occasionally found myself forgetting about the objective for a few seconds because I was too busy looking at the scenery.

More importantly, though, I was having fun. That’s probably the biggest surprise of Ace Combat 8 for me. I went into this expecting a flight simulator and came away feeling like I’d discovered one of the most entertaining action games I’ve played in a while.

There’s something wonderfully satisfying about the entire experience. Taking off, hearing your squadmates over the radio, locking onto an enemy, firing a missile and then immediately having to evade incoming fire creates a rhythm that I found incredibly addictive.

It makes you feel like an ace without requiring you to already be one. That’s probably why I’d encourage other newcomers to give Wings of Theve a chance. If, like me, you’ve looked at Ace Combat from the outside for years and assumed it wasn’t for you, I think there’s a good chance you’ll be surprised.

You don’t need to know the entire history of the series. You don’t need to understand fighter jets. You don’t need to be a flight-sim expert. You just need to be willing to climb into the cockpit.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve doesn’t completely reinvent the formula, but as someone experiencing the series for the first time, that’s hardly a problem. It takes the simple fantasy of flying a fighter jet and builds an enormously entertaining game around it, combining accessible controls, spectacular aerial combat, cinematic presentation and plenty of progression.

For me, the biggest compliment I can give it is that I started the game wondering whether I would enjoy flying a virtual fighter jet for hours on end.

By the time the credits rolled, I was already looking forward to getting back into the cockpit. I may have been late to Ace Combat, but Wings of Theve has finally made me understand what I’ve been missing.

A PS5 review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

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