Ace Combat 8: Soaring on the Wings of Theve (Spoiler Free Review)
I first played Ace Combat back in the very early 2000s, and like most people my age, what I played was what is now considered to be the Holy Trinity: AC04, AC5 and ACZ. These games were the ones that, along with a push from my grandmother, cemented a deeply rooted love for the sky and aviation. The yearning for the place where everyone is free, the sky, is something that hasn't left me for even a single second throughout my life.
Now, I am 27 years old, and Ace Combat 8 just got released after 7 years have passed since the last entry in the series. When the first inkling of information dropped, I wondered to myself: Will I be able to feel that again, that child-like wonder for a game release? Will my expectations for this game be met, after we've waited for so long?
GAMEPLAY
This is the aspect that will matter to people the most, especially those returning players that have experienced the franchise in all its shapes and sizes. From the swiftness of AC6's flight model, to the controversial Assault Horizon gameplay loop.
Thankfully, I think that Project Aces was able to find a happy medium here, with a couple exceptions. Aircraft, initially, will feel very heavy and cumbersome; the best example being the poor Legacy Hornet with its role as a starter aircraft. I have flown general aviation aircraft that have better roll rate and pitch authority than that poor Bug.
This feeling is one that persists with other starter planes, and only starts getting better with mid-tier aircraft like the Super Hornet and its variants. Flying sharply will have you relying on High-G turns constantly, a strategy which will become second nature.
Dogfights feel as exciting as ever, and will have you at the edge of your seat, especially against tougher opponents. This feeling is one that has defined the entire franchise, and it's very clear that it is still the very essence of the soul that drives these games. To that end, AC8 accomplishes everything it should to make you feel like an ace.
Other aspects of gameplay are also satisfying, but have gone through significant changes when compared to AC7; the most important being the gun. The projectiles now have smaller hitboxes and reward precision, which is a completely different experience when compared to AC7's large hitboxes and high fire rate/low damage mix that made it feel as if you were firing spaghetti at your enemy.
The other major changes are your wingmen, which you are able to command in the same way you've been able to since AC5. The main difference this time around is that they actually do stuff! They have even killed aces before I could get to them, and gathered a lot of points during missions.
And last but not least, the part system is back from AC7, meaning that you can customize certain aspects of your aircraft to your liking. Making lower performing aircraft become flyable and competitive, even if just for a bit longer.
Genuinely, the gameplay feel of AC8 is awesome, full of depth and rewards skilled marksmanship, good flying and great positioning
GRAPHICS
To say more than just "It's pretty", I want to go a bit more in-depth into why it looks the way that it does. This entry is the first time that Project Aces has used UE5 as an engine, which means that the team had to learn a lot of aspects of how this engine, and its tools, work and complement each other.
The cloud system is now proprietary, instead of using TruSky like they did in AC7; this gave the developers a lot more freedom to make something that not only fit their aesthetic needs, but that they could control 100% of the time to help build levels properly.
These clouds are volumetric and really standout from almost every single arcade game out there. It is fantastic to see how they scatter and absorb light, creating dark pockets of dense clouds that are filled with condensed water droplets. There are also lighter, thinner high altitude cirrus clouds, as well as cirrostratus clouds that can be seen in certain missions.
As for the aircraft models, all I can say is that they are absolutely fantastic. I couldn't really spot anything wrong with them during my time playing the campaign (17 hours). From the rivets, to the panels and the seams; nothing is out of proportion or mishaped in any of the models.
There is something brand new to AC8's aircraft, and that is the weathering system. The more you use an aircraft during the campaign, the more worn it will look. Corrosion will show, soot from firing and oil streaks will start appearing.
This, to me, makes these planes feel like actual weapons of war, rather than a perfectly immaculate aircraft that doesn't change during months and months of usage. You can always clean it at any time, but why would you?
The special effects are great, explosions are lively and they produce light that bounces off of the environment and light up structures and even your aircraft, if you are close enough. The sound coming from them is great, and so is most of the sound design in the game, with the sole exception of the gun. It is the only sound that made itself known not for being great, but for being a bit lower quality than it was in AC7 or even other entries
Breaking the sound barrier has its own sound effect that you will grow accustomed to, it is crisp and makes it feel like you are actually pushing your aircraft to its limits. So does pulling Gs, and even getting on post-stall maneuvers. The aircraft feel alive, and in a great way.
One graphical aspect that impressed me was the modular destruction of larger enemy aerial vessels, such as the ones that have been shown in the trailers. The more damage you inflict, the more parts fall off of them, including entire wings! And those parts can collide with other big aircraft or yourself, leading to possible domino effects if a lead aircraft is downed with another one close by.
Overall, AC8 is the most graphically intense and beautiful entry in the series, managing to capture the feel of the open sky in a way that no other game in the franchise has done before.
ISSUES
And just like I have mentioned the good, I will also mention the bad. AC8 has been the most unstable modern title that I have played in a long while. It crashed 11 times for me during the campaign, all of which booted me back to Desktop. For clarification, I am running the game on Windows 10 through Steam, and these are my computer specs:
CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X3D
GPU: Nvidia 5070Ti 16GB (latest Drivers as of time of writing)
RAM: 32GB DDR4 @3600MT/s
Storage: 2x 1TB NVME drives (PCIe 3.0 x4), 1x 4TB SATA SSD
Monitor: 1080p @75Hz
The game was always run with browsers closed, and by itself with no other major applications running in the background.
The issues seemed to lie on RAM utilization, and the game runninh out of it. This caused the application to crash time and time again. The crashes were repeatable and they were mostly centered in the hangar scenes, when multiple high-poly models and high-res textures were loaded into memory.
Rebooting the graphics drivers almost always solved the issues, but only temporarily. Especially during long play sessions.
That being said, I never encountered any slowdowns even with everything set to HIGH settings, and I held a stable 60FPS with no problem. I do know that a couple of the Skyward staff were not as lucky, and ran into slowdowns during high-intensity moments with explosions near the player.
CONCLUSION (SPOILER FREE)
This game is a technical marvel of game design, and human-led artistic prowess that deserves all the recognition that it has gotten so far. It masterfully blends everything that made the previous entries great, without rehashing into ideas to the point that they feel derivative.
Flying aircraft here feels amazing, and you will feel like what you think a fighter pilot is, someone that dominates the skies and makes the aircraft an extension of themselves.
Go play the game. You owe it to yourself to try it, as this game belongs with the best this franchise has to offer, and is the best modern entry point to the franchise.
About the Author
Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos
Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy
