Ace Combat 8 Review: The Best Campaign In The Series

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This Ace Combat 8 review comes from someone who has loved this series for years and still went in expecting a safe sequel. Ace Combat 8 turned out to be the boldest entry Bandai Namco Aces has made in a long time. I picked up Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve the weekend it launched and have been in it most evenings since.

The game launched worldwide on October 2, 2026, on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC through Steam, with Deluxe Edition owners flying from September 29. Newcomers can start here without homework, since the story stands on its own.

Below, you'll find my take on the campaign, the flying, the aircraft tree, the online mode, and the Ace Pass, plus my score.

Ace Combat 8 Review Summary

• Ace Combat 8 is the best the series has played in years, with a 30-mission campaign that rarely repeats an idea.

• The story of a pilot inheriting a dead ace's legend gives the Ace Combat 8 campaign a real emotional hook.

• Clouds, falling debris, and big targets with several lockable parts make dogfights feel different from mission to mission.

• The Aircraft Tree pays out generously, and you pick the planes your three wingmen fly as well.

• Ace Combat 8 multiplayer is the biggest in series history, with a 100-player Air Base, co-op modes, superweapon raids, and rotating PvP events.

• The Ace Pass grind and its paid tiers sit awkwardly in a full-priced game.

Joker Flight Carries The Campaign

The setup hooked me inside the first mission. It's July 2029, the Republic of Sotoa has overrun the Federation of Central Usea, and the capital, Theve, is under occupation. You fly from the Endurance, an aging carrier packed with scattered soldiers and civilians. Early on, the ace known as the Wings of Theve, Jan Cope, is killed, and your silent pilot inherits his call sign.

Propaganda drives the story harder than I expected. The FCU is outmanned, so it keeps the legend alive to hold morale together, and you become the face of it. Every time I won a battle, I was feeding a story the brass was selling to a whole country. The game never digs as deep into that theme as I wanted, and it still gave my wins a strange weight.

Joker Flight is the reason I kept caring. Baxter is a former university lecturer who talks like one, Tasha is a former Yuktobanian aerobat, and Coster is a rock fan who barely says a word. Their radio chatter fills every sortie, and the first-person cutscenes between missions let you salute them and shake their hands. It's melodramatic, and I loved it for that.

Across 30 missions, the Ace Combat 8 campaign stays excellent far more often than not. I stormed a city as enemy counterattacks hit my ground forces, snuck up on a massive defense platform, and took on land battleships. A handful feel like padding between story beats, and I felt the pacing sag whenever two of them landed back-to-back.

Clouds And Debris Change Every Dogfight

Ace Combat 8 is built on Unreal Engine 5, and the skies are the first thing I noticed. The clouds are far more than scenery. I learned to duck into a cloud bank to break a missile lock, and enemy aces do the same to me, which turns some fights into tense games of hide-and-seek. They throw flares, pull cobras, and use cover in ways I don't remember from AI in older entries.

The new debris system changed how I aim. Wreckage from a kill can slam into other enemies, so shooting the lead plane in a tight formation sometimes takes out its partner too. Bigger targets carry several lockable parts, like anti-aircraft guns and propellers, and a heavy bomber becomes a puzzle I take apart piece by piece. I stopped spamming missiles at the center of mass by my second evening.

You can bring two special weapons into a mission, and that small change reshuffled every loadout I built. I paired the railgun with a ground-attack weapon for strike missions, and the railgun's shockwave clears the clouds around its impact. The D-pad also hands you wingman commands: send Joker Flight after your target, have them cover you, or tell them to fire their own special weapons.

Every plane feels heavier than in older entries, and I mean that as praise. Sonic booms crack with a vapor cone, and high-G turns feel like you're hauling real weight around. Standard difficulty limits your missile supply, and the lowest setting gives you unlimited missiles for pure spectacle. Keiki Kobayashi's soundtrack mixes orchestra, Spanish guitar, and rock, and it carried the best moments for me.

The Aircraft Tree Rewards Experimenting

The Aircraft Tree returns, and you spend the MRP you earn in missions on new jets, weapons, and parts. Payouts feel fair, and I earned something new almost every session without replaying a mission. The Ace Combat 8 aircraft are split into fighters, attackers, multirole jets, and electronic warfare planes. The cover star is the F/A-18E Super Hornet, and you'll also find the A-10C, Su-57 and F-15J.

Parts let you tune a plane toward maneuverability, lock-on speed,d or bomb payload. I built one jet for dogfights and another for ground strikes, then swapped between them depending on the briefing. Taking the dogfighter into a ground-strike mission turned every target run into a slog, and I didn't make that mistake twice.

You can also choose the aircraft each wingman flies, and I spent too much time in that menu. Giving Coster an attacker and keeping Tasha in a fast fighter changed how missions played out. My squad stopped feeling like escorts and started feeling like part of the plan.

Thirty-odd jets at launch feel thin to me. They cover a single campaign fine, but a fan who knows the series will spot missing favorites right away. Some planes and skins sit behind the paid Ace Pass tracks during their season, and that stings in a game you've already paid for.

Ace Combat Online Is Big But Grindy

Ace Combat 8 multiplayer lives in Ace Combat Online, which Bandai Namco calls the largest online experience the series has ever had. It starts in the Air Base, a cross-play hub for up to 100 players where you customize your pilot and wander between modes. There's even an arcade cabinet with Pac-Man on it.

Co-Op Assault puts a team of up to four against NPC forces, and Co-Op Warfare adds a rival team of players into the same battle. Scramble missions drop four players against AI squads, and Emergency Sorties throw up to eight pilots at a superweapon. I had the most fun in Emergency Sorties, since bringing down something huge with seven strangers feels like a campaign finale.

The Ace Pass comes in three tiers. A free track hands out cosmetics and aircraft upgrades, and the Premium Ace Pass and Premium Ace Pass Plus add exclusive rewards, with Plus including a 30-level skip. Seasons last two months. Bandai Namco says there are no paid loot boxes or randomized paid rewards, and pass aircraft go on sale once a season ends. Even so, I felt the pull of a timer every time I logged in, and I don't enjoy that feeling in a paid game.

Competitive play rotates through limited-time events, such as 4v4 Team Deathmatch and an eight-player free-for-all. The menus around them are clunky, and it took me a few sessions to find where everything lived.

Is Ace Combat 8 Worth Buying Right Now?

Yes, for almost anyone who likes flying or big set pieces. The campaign alone justifies the purchase. If you want to pick the game up, the current editions and price are listed on the official Ace Combat 8 page and the Steam store page.

On my setup, the launch build ran smoothly, with a couple of heavier missions as the only spots where it strained. Bandai Namco confirmed the full lineup of editions and modes in its launch announcement. On PC, expect a shader warm-up on first boot, and check the recommended specs, which ask for 32 GB of RAM and a 125 GB SSD.

The Ace Pass rewards regular play, so anyone who only drops in now and then will leave some seasonal rewards unclaimed when a season wraps up. If that bothers you, buy it for the campaign, treat the multiplayer as a bonus,s and wait on the paid passes.

FAQs About Ace Combat 8

Final Words

Ace Combat 8 made me care about my wingmen more than any flight game I've played. The propaganda angle could have been pushed further, but the feeling of carrying someone else's legend stuck with me through all 30 missions.

The clouds and the debris changed my habits more than any story beat did. I read briefings properly now, and I pick my wingmen's planes before every sortie.

Will the Ace Pass settle into a fair seasonal rhythm, or turn into a grind that wears players out? That depends on seasons nobody has seen, so watch how the next one lands before committing to the paid tracks.

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