Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve review – brilliant aerial combat game fulfils the Top Gun fantasy

PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC (version played); Bandai NamcoThe game generates blood-pumping moments as you twist, turn and weave through the skies, while your locked-on missiles speed away to obliterate an enemy plane

The core appeal of any Ace Combat game lies in the moment when the beautiful clouds part, the sunlight glints off your perfectly rendered state-of-the-art fighter jet, and guitar-shredding music kicks into overdrive as your locked-on missiles speed away to obliterate an enemy plane. All of that is 100% present in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. What’s new is the way it delivers its unexpectedly compelling story.

Set in the Earth-like alternative world of Strangereal, where every country is absolutely obsessed with fighter planes and giant superweapons, Ace Combat drafts you into the role of a fake ace pilot called the Wings of Theve – a propaganda invention to raise the morale of a besieged nation, similar to real-life rumours about Ukraine’s Ghosts of Kyiv. You rapidly find yourself becoming an actual legendary pilot, soaring through the skies with your buddies and raining hell upon your oppressors as everybody cheers on the radio. Speaking of ghosts, you have one in your ear – your predecessor, whom nobody else can hear, a gravelly voice waxing lyrical about flying, war and whatever else is on his mind as you flit about.

Despite slavish devotion to the accurate depiction of military hardware, Ace Combat has always been more concerned with making flying fun than sticking to realism. Simplified, more intuitive controls and training scenarios are available to help ease beginners into the pilot’s seat, while as a series veteran I was happier with the expert control scheme, which opens up more complex manoeuvres like missile-evading rolls and zero-G turns. Importantly, the simple act of flying around looks astounding; action replays unerringly choose the best camera angles to make you look like a true ace (instead of someone simply doing their best not to smash straight into the ground).

This is a game all about dogfighting, but there’s a pleasing variety of mission types ranging from bombing runs and escorts to more convoluted scenarios such as taking out a giant, railgun-equipped “land battleship” rampaging through a city’s streets, or hunting radar-invisible supersonic planes by trying to spot their tell-tale contrails. It’s all thrilling stuff; the game is perfectly tuned to generate high-tension, blood-pumping moments as you twist, turn and weave through endless rains of missiles while an orchestra goes absolutely wild and a well-produced radio drama plays out over the open airwaves.