Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Hands-On Preview – Taking To The Skies Again

Ace Combat’s history in video games is nothing short of monolithic. With the exception of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, the majority of them are fondly remembered and have tall tales to spin. So with part 8 coming out soon, Bandai Namco took the smart approach and made this an early entry to the past titles; like how Street Fighter IV and V take place before Street Fighter III lore-wise.

Ace Combat 8 takes place 11 years before Ace Combat 3, but it’s after the events of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. Despite that, you start off the game fresh through the perspective of an unnamed wingman for an ace pilot named Cope. After learning movement and flying, it turns out your team is great at flying away from danger, though your luck has run out. After being rescued from sea and somehow on the good battleship Endurance, you end up inheriting Cope’s callsign “Rex” and end up leading Joker Flight through a series of missions to protect the skies and keep the Endurance safe.

It’s after all the only place aircrafts can land legally, so it’s basically a painted target for enemies of the state. Oh, and you hear Cope’s voice in your head, so there’s some psychological thing going on during the game’s plot that some weaves into the main narrative somehow, since you are the titular Wings of Theve and upholding your side’s morale on a high.

All this isn’t spoiler material, as it happens in the first 10 minutes of the game. If anything, the intro and pacing moves at a great pace and entertain, setting you straight to your first few missions as the titular pilot. And after an hour with the game and playing a few missions during Summer Games Fest 2026, I’m dying to find out more.

Air Flow

But let’s continue on with how it actually plays: you are given the choice between “simple” and “classic” Ace Combat controls, which have minor differences but will accommodate your flight style. You can fly up or down, pitch and yaw, lock onto enemies and fire homing missiles (limitless too; this IS an arcade flight game), or use your plane’s machine guns, and shut down your afterburners so you can do hard turns and evasive/chasedown maneuvers at the risk of stalling mid-air. These are required to master throughout the game as you can kill off and outflank fighter jets quicker; the game grades you on how fast you complete missions.

I just went for the former control scheme for my playtime, and felt at ease just flying through missions, going through the aforementioned tutorial stage and the next few where I had to take down enemy flight jets and bombers. Heck, I even had to go so far as to head to enemy approach points and take the fight to them, and then double back to protect the Endurance. My wingmen are very, very capable thanks to the game’s on-the-fly AI that really can go either offensive or defensive whenever I so choose. Speaking of which, your wingmen are pretty fleshed out story-wise during the course of the game, with a plethora of cutscenes in-between missions detailing the going-ons while having you bond with them.

You have Ellington “Teach” Baxter your father figure type character who sets you on the straight and narrow, and you have William Costner who loves rock music. But most players, myself including, will remember Tasha Severskaya the young ace pilot with the pink highlights, who comes into the scene all cheery and optimistic, an animal lover, and warms up to you pretty quick.

Most importantly, they’re all competent in their wingmen jobs, either providing distractions for enemy pilots or able to take point while you sit back and play defense. With all these tactics in play, I just made Tasha and Teach defend me while I hog all the kills for myself. It took me longer than usual to complete the mission, but at least the Endurance is protected. The only tough time I had with the game is the landing; I can’t for the life of me align whatever lines and cursors I’m told to sort out. Thankfully, this part is optional and I can just skip it.

Winging It

Despite the number “8” in the title, this Ace Combat starts with a great intro and sets the scene for you to start jetsetting and taking down enemy planes while preserving the Wings of Theve reputation you inherited and need to uphold. It’s got an engaging plot with a great cast to follow, the game looks gorgeous with its realistic clouds and aircraft models, it plays great, and has the same banging soundtrack that the series has upheld throughout the years.

I’m glad that Bandai Namco is making this series a lot more approachable towards new flight sim fans while also not compromising on its difficulty and arcade nature. As well as also being kinda political with its storyline without mentioning real-life names of people, governments, and countries.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve will be out for PC and consoles on October 2.