Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve takes off with glowing reviews
Critics call Bandai Namco's new flight combat game a worthy successor to Ace Combat 7, with a story that hits as hard as the dogfights.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and it landed with a Metascore in the high 80s.
What critics loved
Reviewers single out the story: first-person narrative sequences put you alongside the pilots of Joker Flight and make the stakes personal. The dogfighting is described as smooth and refined across 30 varied missions, and Bandai Namco's new 'Cloudly' cloud engine makes weather both beautiful and tactical.
Presentation also gets plenty of praise — from detailed aircraft and motion-captured cutscenes to the orchestral score and large sandbox maps with changing weather and day-night cycles.
What held it back
Some critics felt the frequent cutscenes interrupt the action, that quick-time events are overused, and that later plot twists lose some of their punch.