GordonJAGReview Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Review

Man, I legitimately hate Call of Duty and Battlefield for ruining what war game stories could—and should—be. On top of just being generally miserable, terrible games to play, they also turn being in the military into complete pro-war, pro-slaughtering nonsense with no self-awareness or nuance. Those series have such a broad grasp of anything even adjacent to a military sim game that their rancid garbage typically spills into them, infecting those games with an obnoxiously abhorrent pro-war attitude. That’s why I’m glad Ace Combat 8 has been well reviewed critically and seems to have broken out to more mainstream audiences. Ace Combat 7 sold over 7 million copies by 2026, and AC8’s peak player count on Steam was about 4 times what AC7’s was. This containment breach absolutely rules, and I couldn’t be happier to see it, because Ace Combat 8 is a genuine Game of the Year contender, soaring high with gameplay that’s both fun and tense, an anti-war story that doesn’t take away from its gameplay, an absolutely killer soundtrack, and an emotional story filled with hopeful, endearing characters I was rooting for the entire way through. I will say that I don’t really go here. I own AC7, but I’ve barely played it. Before that, the only combat flight simulation game I played was some Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. back around the time humans were first learning to control fire. I can’t tell you if AC8 stands up against other great games in the series or genre, and I really don’t care. The game is excellent on its own. I thought the planes felt fun to fly, and it was fun to learn how each of them operated compared to the others. Even on the game’s normal difficulty setting, I found myself needing the right plane and loadout to succeed. AC8 was never overly punishing with its gameplay, but for a newbie like myself, I definitely had to play by the book for my first go while I was figuring everything out. You start as an unidentified pilot—later given the call sign Rex—who is getting rescued from a lifeboat. Rex is immediately introduced to Joker Flight, consisting of pilots Cope, Baxter, Tasha, and Coster. Cope is introduced with the “Wings of Theve” title, one given to him for his legendary exploits in the ongoing Sotoa-Usea War. One of the first things he tells Rex is that “Wings of Theve” is a made-up propaganda stunt to keep morale high, which makes sense given the war's overall state. This lie is immediately exposed when you’re shot out of the sky with Cope as your pilot, mere minutes after you're introduced to him, and it’s revealed he was only good at running away. From there, you take up the “Wings of Theve” mantle, mostly in secret to keep the ruse going strong. Unlike Rex’s predecessor (who is apparently haunting you as a ghost now), he can actually get things done in combat, letting him live up to the propaganda hero image most characters see him as. With his tremendous skills as an ace pilot, people gradually start to believe in him, fear him, and admire him, though some still treat his successes as myths and legends. Even everyone in Joker Flight is a little surprised to see Rex's aggressive style as a pilot. As the campaign opens and evolves, everyone’s thoughts and feelings about Rex unfold into nice narrative moments I really enjoyed. One of AC8’s real strengths is its cast of supporting characters. Tasha is the emotional heart of the story, and her role as a civilian-turned-fighter-pilot unfolds nicely alongside Rex’s missions in Joker Flight. The anti-war story does a great job showing Tasha’s reluctant growth and her struggle to make decisions she doesn’t want to in order to protect her allies. As a young adult at most, her character and story are very effective at making her the game’s most sympathetic character. Baxter and Coster still have their moments, particularly Baxter, but they’re a little more used to the whole war thing. As a result, their arcs aren’t quite as expansive as Tasha’s. Still, they make great supporting characters and voices for both Rex and Tasha as the game goes on. While I loved the cast of characters and the anti-war story as a whole, I didn’t think the writing was outstanding, though it was fine. It has an earnest cheesiness (I understand now that the cheese is part of the AC series) that makes it fun to listen to, but I can also see why someone might find it a bit campy. Most importantly, AC8 has things it wants to say, and even if the writing is a bit on the cheesy side, it still says what it wants to say, and it says those things proudly. Seriously, me dumping on Call of Duty and Battlefield to start the review wasn’t just to get a few more kicks in on a couple of terrible series I obviously hate. It’s been a long time since a military game made me feel anything but revulsion from its story, and parts of AC8's tale legitimately border on horror. It's sad, but refreshing, that a wartime story is harrowing. When I think back on the gameplay, one thing I really liked about AC8 was that it kept me paying attention during missions. Missions usually had objective markers and priority targets highlighted, but plenty of times I had to fly long distances for them to appear, or fend for myself using mission-briefing info with little visual help. There’s also a lot of radio chatter and dialogue in the middle of a mission, but the game still expects the player to pay attention and understand mission updates as they happen along the way. I found that it struck a good balance in giving me just enough guidance during hectic, explosion-filled chaos while still letting me organically piece things together. That said, I feel like all the noise, chatter, and spectacle might be overstimulating for some. Each mission has you, functionally, doing the same thing: shooting bad guys. Shooting bad guys in the air, shooting bad guys on the ground, shooting down a high-priority target, and protecting your own high-priority escort by shooting bad guys. While this doesn’t sound like a world-beater formula for a 30-mission campaign, each mission feels slightly different from the last, and escalating tensions and character importance make later missions feel extremely important. Without spoiling any major plot details, the last third of AC8’s missions blends gameplay and story excellently, and I was feasting on them. Like the cheese in the games’ writing, Ace Combat is known for having a monster soundtrack. Of course, the OST in AC8 is no different, with multiple standout tracks and a superb main theme that makes a grand appearance during a very enjoyable mission. The game also lets you sit back and play any music you’ve heard in a separate menu, and I’ll never turn down a game that offers its excellent OST on a silver platter. Still, nothing truly replaces hearing the exceptional tracks during the high-octane gameplay they were meant to accompany. You can really tell that the music was made for those gameplay moments. If you like military or war games, but you’ve rightly found the recent wave of popular military or war games lacking on every front, grab an exceptional Game of the Year contender in Ace Combat 8. With more than just flashy military hardware and a billion explosions per second, the surprisingly emotional and touching core story doesn’t get in the way of letting the player have their fun with cool planes and dogfights high above the clouds, all while everything is wrapped up neatly with strong characters and a soundtrack for the ages.