Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Xbox Review

After seeing the trailers and gameplay for Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve I was already itching to get my hands on this latest entry in the world-renowned series. Not only does this one look to improve on the seventh game in a variety of ways but also provide us with a ton of new content and a continent spanning story that is said to blow our socks away.

You can still expect the exciting, arcadey flying and dogfighting gameplay that has kept Ace Combat a fan favourite for years but do all of these improvements make it the best yet within this franchise?

Well, my name is Fletcher, this is Xbox Nation, and let’s delve into my review of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve.

Whether you’re new to this series or have been a diehard fan of the franchise for over 20 years, the same thing can be said right out of the gate: Ace Combat 8 provides you with a fantastic but new story, still set within the same fictional world of Strangereal. This time, though, it follows a different narrative from any other game in the series and it gets even wilder than we have ever seen before.

This time, you follow a new pilot called Jan Cope, who is essentially pulled from the sea after a dogfight goes wrong. From there, you’re plunged into the crisis facing the Federation of Central Usea.

It might all sound a bit overwhelming to newcomers with all these place names and factions, but thankfully, you get a rather good understanding of it all after playing the game for a couple of hours. I will say it’s a bit daunting as a newcomer myself but once you get going, the story here is actually bloody brilliant and it doesn’t require any knowledge of the previous games.

I don’t want to spoil any of it for you but all I will say is that the conflict between the FCU and Republic of Sotoa is incredible. So much so, that I was up until 4am one evening completely hooked on the conflict unfolding and all the twists and turns along the way. You get all of this explained to you further during in-game missions and through some wonderful cinematic cutscenes, although those scenes were a little basic in terms of scale.

I did find it a bit odd to have these kinds of QTE moments during the cutscenes, where you literally have to press A on the controller, despite them providing little to no meaning. To be honest, I would rather have had them removed. I also found that some cutscenes were dragged out a bit too much, to the point where I skipped one or two, so the pacing can be a little touch and go.

As someone who is relatively new to aerial dogfights and has only sampled the genre a couple of times in games such as the old Dropship: United Peace Force on PS2 and, more recently, Battlefield’s Air Superiority mode, I was curious about why so many people held Ace Combat in such high regard when it came to aerial combat. Now I truly understand why.

If you’re new to the series, I can safely say there are options to help you, and multiple difficulty settings based on skill level. I chose the middle ground to properly understand the mechanics and see how well I fared. I did okay, although there were some hair-raising moments.

You can pick it up and play at a basic level, but dogfighting in Ace Combat is, and has always been, surprisingly complex. There are tricks and advanced manoeuvres to figure out, with the advanced turning controls adding plenty of nuance to the combat. Learning how tilting your nose up can slow your forward movement without losing speed, integrating advanced pitch and yaw controls to tighten your turns, or simply fine-tuning your sense of the ideal angle from which to approach an enemy fighter for a quick, decisive shot all takes practice and know-how.

One common complaint about Ace Combat 7, based on reviews and user scores, was that there was little in the way of tutorials or instruction on how to use the mechanics effectively. That has improved here. You do, of course, get a tutorial at the start of your ace’s journey, but there are also training missions in the menu that make the different tactics and controls at your disposal easier to discover. It’s a great, well-implemented system, and it reminds me of something like Ninja Gaiden 4, where you can practise these systems to your heart’s content without suffering any real consequences for failure.

The fact that anyone can pick up this game is great, and I commend the team for giving new players some good entry points into what can be a very complex system.

One aspect that has been dialled up this time is the ground combat missions. And no, I’m not talking about fighting on foot; I mean air-to-ground combat, where you take on various objectives involving ships, tanks, outrageous weaponry (no spoilers there) and a boatload more.

This is alongside the new Annihilation mode, which has been introduced to the series for the first time. It has you facing key enemy facilities and taking them on however you like. The gameplay offers a high degree of freedom within a time limit, allowing you to devise your own strategies and even replenish weapons if you run low on ammunition.

I appreciate that Ace Combat has leaned further into this direction, and these ground-based and Annihilation mode missions were some of my favourites in the entire game. As I mentioned, I played Dropship: United Peace Force years ago, and these missions felt very familiar to that game in terms of design and structure. They not only give you the dogfights you want, but also offer welcome flexibility that really makes you think about how to approach each location. You’ll find some enemy facilities are packed to the gills with SAM turrets, so a direct approach isn’t always best. Dodging a barrage of missiles can send your dopamine levels soaring, but figuring out how not to succumb to them is a worthy challenge.

To me, this is where Ace Combat 8 truly shines. I loved every aspect of these new missions and the expanded air-to-ground combat.

I will say, though, that the semi-open skies you’ll take to are gorgeous. I was in awe of how good this game looks and runs in Unreal Engine 5. We all know Ace Combat 7 was already a looker, but this takes things up tenfold.

You’ll look good throughout all your battles in the sky, as meticulously detailed jets zip across it, weaving among beautiful, craggy mountain ranges and bursting through cloud cover. It’s delightful and always rewards a closer look.

As you fly perilously close to skyscrapers in a city, you’ll see the amount of detail in the environment, from the office blocks to the underground tunnels. It’s not unlike looking out of the window of an actual plane and, of course, that detail adds to the spectacle of combat.

The developers have also upped the fidelity of the clouds, and they look far more complex this time around. As I mentioned, this entry was developed in Unreal Engine 5, replacing the trueSKY system with a new proprietary system called Cloudly. This provides a greater variety of clouds that look more realistic than ever. With how much time you’ll spend in the skies, it definitely keeps the scenery looking fresh.

Add the weather systems into the mix and, my word, my jaw hit the floor. Seeing specks of rain roll off the cockpit glass and the chemtrails left in the skies by larger craft is quite phenomenal. I’ve never seen anything like it.

This is one of the best-looking games I have seen this generation. Considering you’re in the skies 100% of the time, that’s a testament to what the developers have crafted here.

If you were wondering or even worrying about the amount of content at launch, you need to put those fears to bed because there’s a wealth of it to delve into.

This time around, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has the largest amount of content ever seen in this franchise. There’s a staggering amount more than in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere and, considering that entry was praised for how much there was to do, that’s a pretty big uplift in scale. You’re looking at cutscenes, missions, landings, small side content, multiplayer, upgrades, training missions and so much more.

Speaking of upgrades, there are a ton of unlockables here, and you have the freedom to decide how you go about unlocking the different abilities and parts for your fighters. These are available through the aircraft skill tree, which you access at the end of each mission. You’re given a certain amount of credits based on your performance in each campaign level. The upgrades come with bonuses like faster reloads, better performance when pulling G-forces, or automatic machine gun fire when locked onto an enemy fighter. Yeah, you don’t need to worry about a lack of customisation.

Not only is it grander in scale in terms of gameplay and the campaign, but it also has the largest selection of aircraft you can use at launch. Ace Combat 8 offers more than 30, including the F/A-18C Super Hornet, the A-10C Thunderbolt II, the MiG-29A Fulcrum and many more.

They are all meticulously detailed, too. You can view them at any time, from within the campaign hangar or even from the main menu, where they’re shown off as the majestic and frightening killing machines they are.

I did mention that there is multiplayer here with 100 person lobbies and PVP and PVE combat. I was unable to test this at the time of the review as these weren’t live and I did miss the 24 hour window due to personal circumstances but from what i’ve heard from other sites it is solid. I may return to this portion in a separate review on our website, so stay tuned for that.

I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground when it comes to issues seen in previous Ace Combat games, especially as someone who hasn’t played this series before. Although the aforementioned tutorials and expanded training options have been implemented, one issue in particular—the quite horrid checkpoint system—seems to have crept its way back into this entry yet again.

Now, it’s not as egregious as in a few previous entries, but it’s still rather painful, and sometimes pitiful, how bad it can become. I’ve experienced a few crashes when I was one or two kills away from finishing a 10–15-minute mission, only to crash accidentally and be sent right back to square one. It was infuriating at times, and it puts me off playing on a higher difficulty if I want to challenge myself more.

After hearing that this has been a problem for some players in previous entries, it’s disappointing to see it prevail yet again. It might put some players off picking up Ace Combat 8.

I will briefly touch on the performance but I will say, I was pleasantly surprised by what I experienced on both the Xbox Series X & S Consoles.

As it stands, it’s flawless and runs very well On the Xbox Series X you do have a quality and performance mode which both hit dynamic 4k but one at 60fps and one at 30fps. Personally I would recommend performance mode with how fast this game can get and honestly, you aren’t losing much graphically here and all the footage today has been in performance mode.

I experienced absolutely no dips frame rate wise no matter the amount of chaos on screen at one time and that was during both modes which was fantastic and its a very well optimised game.

On the Xbox Series S, you don’t get any graphical toggles unfortunately but I do want to say, it runs at 60fps which is incredible to see. The only downside is that there seems to be a very big focus on Chromatic Aberration and there is a ton of shimmering especially when near the ground. Its more prevalent within the hanger when viewing your fighters so its not too noticeable in gameplay.

Overall it is a solid port and I’m happy to recommend it on both the Series Consoles.

Overall, I absolutely loved my time with Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve done myself a disservice by not playing this franchise in my earlier gaming years.

Not only do you have a fantastic story that will draw you in with some major twists, gameplay additions and great cutscenes, but you also get phenomenal world design, packed around the best aerial combat systems I have ever seen. It cements Ace Combat 8 as the definitive arcade flight combat game of 2026.

It does have some gripes, including a checkpoint system that can be a little egregious, dragging cutscenes and weird QTE moments, but those can’t overshadow how great this package is right now.

I highly recommend playing this new entry in this beloved franchise, especially if you’re a newcomer who has always been intrigued by this genre of games.

Our score

9/10

Essential

Xbox Nation Verdict