Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Reviews
When it's all said and done there remains little better than turning on a dime right into the sights of an onrushing enemy pilot and tapping for the release of a locked-on missile before sailing through the resulting debris. Smart additions, including the debris and chain reaction systems, coupled with the more realistic weather effects and sense of scale make it so that Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is one such outing that resoundingly sticks its landing.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is the most sure-footed the series has ever been, confidently refining its punchy aerial gameplay and doubling down on a more cinematic story. While there are some wobbles here and there, the much improved presentation, charming character performances, varied campaign, and deeper multiplayer experience offer up a sequel that makes a textbook landing.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve knows exactly what it wants to be and doesn't waste time chasing a realism that isn't its forte.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve captures the intensity of aerial warfare better than any other title.
Ace Combat 8 straddles the line between arcade destruction and military precision, with some melodrama thrown in for good measure.
Ace Combat 8 Wings of the Sea reopens the doors of hangars and aircraft carriers, bringing updates to the formula across the board aimed at restoring maturity to the series, building on the solid foundations of past installments, from which it inherits mechanics that are anything but new—certainly not revolutionary, yet always functional.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has a lot going for it. It's full to the brim with plane customization, a bucket load of missions, and a lengthy story. Despite some pacing and difficulty issues, it's a fine addition to the series.
In Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, you play as a would-be ace pilot who starts out flying in the back seat of a fighter jet, as navigator to a fella na...
ACE Combat 8: Wings of the Theve from Bandai Namco Aces Inc. is a marvelous, beautiful dogfighting flight simulator.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is a great action game and one of the best entries in the franchise so far, with the only major caveat being the incoherent and impenetrable story told in the 30-hour-long campaign mode.
Ultimately, when it came time for me to eject from AC8, I was left with the impression of something fun but not flawless. Target-selection nonsense, overcooked dialogue and some not-so-novel decisions that decelerate the pacing keep it from being a perfect sortie. But when Wings of Theve is firing on all afterburners, it delivers exactly the kind of high-speed, high-altitude blockbuster nonsense I wanted from it.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve shows the jet-fighting franchise at its best, with a fantastic story that expands on Strangereal and a variety of fun multiplayer modes.
We had to wait seven years for the release of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, but it was well worth it. The story campaign is everything I expected as a fan of the series – its minor flaws in no way detract from the fact that this is a bigger, better and more visually stunning game than its predecessor. It doesn’t break anything that worked before; instead, it takes the already high quality of the previous instalments and raises it even further – I’m absolutely delighted.
Review in Polish | Read full review
I waited years for Ace Combat to come back, and Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve reminded me exactly why I missed it. One minute I’m admiring my plane, and the next I’m dodging a damn railgun while my squad is yelling over the comms and the soundtrack has me ready to take on everything in the sky. The targeting did get on my nerves during a few crucial moments, and some aircraft take longer to unlock than I would have liked, but those complaints barely put a dent in the fun. Between the combat, story, soundtrack, and sheer spectacle of it all, Ace Combat 8 delivers exactly the kind of experience I had been waiting years for. It’s easily one of the best games in the series, and I loved damn near every moment of it.
For many players, the Ace Combat series means far more than the games themselves. It is hard to find anything else quite like Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, a game that lets you tear through such magnificent clouds with complete freedom. You can move fast enough to outrun sound and wind, yet the sky still feels endless. That romance of feeling both insignificant and extraordinary at the same time is exactly why this series deserves to continue.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
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Review in Spanish | Read full review
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve manages to improve over its predecessor, while also offering a host of content for those that enjoy air warfare.
After 30 years of soaring to new heights, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve finally reaches the summit and stands undisputed. Refined in every possible way, it is not only the finest game in the series to date, but arguably one of the greatest air combat simulations ever made.
Review in Persian | Read full review
One of the best Ace Combat games, offering dozens of spectacular and exciting missions that keep you coming back. The story isn't the most engaging, and the multiplayer is marred by microtransactions, but flying and shooting are fun, and that's what matters most.
Review in Russian | Read full review
It can certainly be challenging, but it is also clearly aware that, with its production values, it may well be the first dogfighting simulation for many players, and it does a brilliant job of giving them a game they can love.