Paul’s an expert in Videogames, Star Trek, flannel shirts – in that order. For PCGamesN he covers GTA, Arc Raiders, PUBG, and more.
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Our Verdict
Ace Combat 8 straddles the line between flight sim and arcade shooter expertly well. Some of the characters grate, and the line reads are overly-dramatic, but what does that matter when there’s stuff to blow up?
I imagine flying a fighter jet feels like being fired out of a cannon in a tumble dryer. Men and women choose to strap themselves into what is essentially a flying explosive and travel faster than the speed of sound to do stuff. It’s unnatural, unbelievably dangerous, and it’s pretty damn cool. Ace Combat 8 put me in the cockpit, and while I feel like it respects the aircraft, I’m not so sure about the personnel.
The flying game series has been around for almost as long as I can remember; a strange, ever-present part of my gaming life. I can’t say I’ve ever really fallen in love with Ace Combat, but it’s a solid choice for those who want explosions without the faff that comes with other, more serious flight sims.
Ace Combat 8 hasn’t stolen my heart, but it’s given me more insight into the series’ enduring appeal. It both does and doesn’t take itself seriously – the presentation is Top Gun, the planes themselves look to be recreated with passion and (from my uninitiated eye) detail, but the cast surrounding it is borderline farcical.
I don’t want to delve too deep into the story, as I feel it’s likely one of the main draws here, but it begins with a dead pilot becoming the voice in my head. He’s apparently a seasoned veteran who almost immediately tells me he’s rubbish, and he lasts all of five minutes. I hear this man commenting on everything in a gravelly, overly serious tone. It’s exhausting.
My squadron, on the other hand, is made up of a bunch of lighthearted-but-still-quite-melodramatic caricatures, who either don’t seem to take anything seriously or react like a telenovela guest star at the slightest inconvenience. There is no in-between. The presentation and the tone are constantly at odds with one another, and it took time for me to adjust.
I got there eventually – not lowering my bar per se, but twisting it into something that would accommodate the experience. The Bad Guys blasting dramatic music whenever they show up? Sure. A famous rock band being another squadron on my side of the war? Why not. The chatter is constant and mostly inane – it reminded me more of Starfox than it did of, well, any war film ever.
Once I realized that Ace Combat 8 wasn’t any war film ever, though, I had a decent amount of fun with it. Like adjusting to a slightly too-hot bath, I succumbed to the chatter, and I let myself go. The eye-rolling never ceased; it merely subsided.
On the actual flying front, Ace Combat 8 is really clean. Jets feel fast, they have a real weight to them, and explosions are plentiful. There are a few control schemes depending on how sim-y you want to get with it: pitch, roll, yaw, etc. I tried a few, but stuck with the default in the end – I didn’t want to think too much, lest the squad comms chatter leak into my brain. It being basic didn’t affect much; it just meant I could get on with the task at hand without worrying about piling into the side of a mountain.
I found real joy in the skill tree, which is something I haven’t said before and won’t likely say again. Progressing towards new airborne toys was my real aim – not whatever war was going on. Yes, I would like the supersonic fighter jet with stealth capabilities, please. The huge bomber with a minigun on the front? Yes, yes.
Fancy aircraft would be nothing without a space to maneuver in, and thankfully, this is another thing Ace Combat 8 does well. The environments and ambient weather systems are just varied enough – and just detailed enough – to accentuate the fact that I’m blasting through the area at what feels like a million miles an hour.
Clouds spray water as I go through them, city lights twinkle against the night, and the sun is blinding if I aim straight for it (wouldn’t recommend). It’s static, but it feels dynamic, and it’s a great sandbox to fly about in. With my enemies mostly being specks on the horizon or glowing green HUD icons, it was nice to have something beautiful to look at in between dodging missiles and attempting barrel rolls.
Ace Combat 8 is a game that is at its best when you don’t take things seriously, something which die-hard fans of the series will likely know already. It finds the middle ground between arcade and sim rather nicely. Nonsense, borderline annoying characterization aside, it’s a great flying game with a ton of toys to play with and a beautiful sandbox to potter about in.