Ace Combat 8 is high-flying aerial combat perfection that's more exhilarating than 'Top Gun' — despite its unavoidable contradictions

(Image credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment / Tom's Guide) The Ace Combat series is a study in contradiction: it has some of the most meticulously rendered fighter jets you’ll see outside of actual flight simulators, but it tosses aside real-world geopolitics and loads its fighters with an impossible number of missiles.You’ll take off and land from aircraft carriers and carefully consider your armaments before a mission, but those missions take more inspiration from "Star Wars" and "Godzilla" movies than real-world dogfights. And while I’ve never really had a problem with “gun violence” in a video game, it’s hard to avoid the cognitive dissonance of enjoying these billion-dollar weapons of war.And yet, I cannot deny that Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is transcendent, not for the story or mechanical accuracy, but for how it feels. Though you can pair the game with a joystick and throttle, the game is made for a controller. Absolutely nothing is lost between your fingers, the controller, and the jet on screen. It’s perfect. ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE | Launch Trailer - YouTube Watch On Story and charactersAce Combat 7 did a lot to make the series more approachable, and the same is true in Wings of Theve. While an over-the-top cutscene at the start of the game introduces you to the world and its characters, a well-designed tutorial gets you flying in no time. You can also choose a more story-focused difficulty, while Aces can still give themselves a challenge.Speaking of story, don’t expect anything remotely based on real-world conflicts. Ace Combat 8’s world is fictional and filled with vaguely familiar countries like the Federation of Central Usea and the nation of Sotoa. War here is straightforward, with good guys and bad guys. There are gestures towards a sinister corporation pulling the strings behind the scenes, and an even stranger digression about social media, but it doesn’t change how focused the story is on your team’s heroism. (Image credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment / Tom's Guide)No doubt taking a page from "Top Gun: Maverick," Ace Combat 8 delivers much of its story through cockpit cameras and radio chatter while your team is flying. Your desperate country is putting anyone they can in the pilot’s seat, including a plucky pink-haired teenager and a glasses-wearing semi-retired teacher.You’ll encounter grizzled, circumspect pilots and monologuing villains, so even as the campaign spans a continent and more than 30 missions, the story feels grounded and intimate, if a little silly. If you’re looking for an introspective exploration of deadly but beautiful flying weapons of war, you’re not going to find it here: may I instead suggest The Wind Rises?Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.Gameplay and missions (Image credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment / Tom's Guide)Even while the countries are different, the game makes use of actual fighter jets, just completely disconnected from the real-world history that built them. And that’s not their only contradiction: you can take well over 100 missiles into combat, and the flight characteristics are more akin to flying a video game spaceship than a genuine flight simulator. It’s difficult to actually cause a stall, and you’ll be looping and barrel rolling in no time. This is what defines Ace Combat: less of a focus on realistic flying in favor of making it feel awesome.And anyway, you can’t really afford to be thinking about much else while you play. Few games can completely demand your attention like Ace Combat 8. It requires that you lock in and focus lest you get blasted out of the sky. During each 15-30 minute mission, you’ll be juggling aerial dogfighting, strikes on ground objectives, escorting defenseless allies, and taking on mini-boss-style enemies. (Image credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment / Tom's Guide)There’s little time to slow down: your field of view is quickly consumed by enemy lock-ons and target objectives. Dodging a missile requires you to pull off a mid-air drift. It sounds tricky, but it’s not hard to pull off so long as you keep your air speed up. Slowing down isn’t an option. You’ll bank, weave and roll to avoid getting hit as you line up targets and release your payload: it’s simply a rush.It helps that the missions feel less like they are modeled on real-world wars, and more on blockbuster films. You’ll take on a monstrous “land battleship” in a fight that reminded me of "Shin Godzilla’s" explosive finale, and another basically has you recreate the Death Star “trench run” with your fighter jet. Even the escort missions, where you’re tasked with defending landing ships or a plane full of refugees, are tuned to feel action-packed instead of an annoying chore.Visuals and sound (Image credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment / Tom's Guide)Of course, it wouldn’t be Ace Combat without a boisterous orchestral score. Returning composer Keiki Kobayashi delivers the goods with a rocking soundtrack that elevates the aerial combat to transcendent heights. Few moments in video games feel as good as weaving through enemy fire to land the final blow on a giant flying airbase just as the music crescendos.The series has also never looked better, with photorealistic jets and expansive environments. Maps are larger than ever, and it feels as though the team is flexing when it comes to the number of enemies and allies that participate in battle simultaneously. Even the first-person cutscenes are impressive, though sometimes the characters can feel like they’re just on the other side of the uncanny valley.The new volumetric cloud tech is also phenomenal, rendering distant puffy clouds, wispy mists, and imposing thunderheads with such impressive detail you’ll practically feel chills flying through them – in fact, if you’re not careful, your jet will ice up! You can also finally use an ultrawide monitor, though much of the UI still hangs out in the center of the screen.Upgrades and unlockables (Image credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment / Tom's Guide)As you make your way through the game, you’ll earn MRP, which you can spend to unlock new jets, weapons, and upgrades. You’ll even need to weigh purchasing extra jets for your teammates, giving you even more control over what they bring into a mission at the cost of your own upgrades.If the game wasn’t so fun to play, I might be more annoyed at how expensive the upgrades are and how large the tech tree is, but it’s actually just a great incentive to replay the campaign. What did slightly annoy me was a series of mid-game missions suddenly restricting me to aircraft carrier-only planes, so don’t make my mistake!Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve’s contradictions don’t weigh it down. If anything, they’re what make the series so uniquely fun to play. It skilfully balances realism, accessibility, and excitement to create the perfect aerial combat game. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. 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