There are few games that understand the appeal of flying quite like Ace Combat. You pull the aircraft into a hard turn, line up a target and fire, then watch the missile close the distance while your wingmen fill the radio with warnings and encouragement. It is not realistic flying, and it does not need to be. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is at its best when it lets me feel like an ace pilot against waves of enemy aircraft or having to switch mission objectives in the middle of a dogfight.<\/p>\n
Even the story is all about spectacle with its believable superweapons and experimental aircraft. The Federation of Central Usea (FCU) has been invaded and largely occupied by the Republic of Sotoa. You, the silent pilot, is rescued at sea by the ageing carrier Endurance, which is carrying refugees and what remains of the FCU Navy. On board, the pilot is given the name Wings of Theve, after the capital. It is soon made known that the legendary ace behind that name never existed; the story was invented to keep morale up.<\/p>\n Image: Bandai Namco<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Image: Bandai Namco<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n That setting could easily have been an excuse for a string of grand speeches, but Wings of Theve gives it a surprisingly effective human side. Between missions, fully animated first-person scenes bring the wingmen into focus, while more traditional cutscenes handle the larger turns in the story. The transitions between the two can be striking, and they give the game\u2019s arguments about fear, duty and morale more weight than the series has usually managed. The dialogue still gets clunky, particularly when a character stops mid-conversation to explain the politics of the war, but I found myself more invested in the squadron than I expected.<\/p>\n The flying itself is still what keeps me coming back. The controls are easy to pick up, and the game offers training to help new pilots learn the basics. Those who want more control can switch to the expert scheme, which opens up manoeuvres such as evasive rolls and zero-G turns. Whichever option you choose, the aircraft feel responsive and the action replays have a knack for catching a sharp turn or missile strike from just the right angle.<\/p>\n Image: Bandai Namco<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Image: Bandai Namco<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The missions make good use of that handling too and there is enough variety to make sure you\u2019re never bored from playing them back-to-back. \u00a0There are the usual bombing runs and escort sorties, to the more elaborate fights that ask you to blow up giant flying fortresses or fending off a land battleship. There\u2019s even one mission that requires you to hunt aircraft that are difficult to spot on radar. Here, I had to look for their contrails and determine their flight path rather than rely on a lock-on marker. The clouds are also absolutely gorgeous here, but they are also easy to lose your bearings in, especially from the cockpit perspective.<\/p>\n Cloud cover also affects how I approach a dogfight. It can help to break a missile lock but the lack of visibility and turbulence make it a risky place to stay. I also found myself using the clouds as brief cover, then trying to get back into clear air before I lost track of the enemy. It is a great example of how the skies in Wings of Theve offer some form of tactical considerations for players, and not just simply as a open backdrop.<\/p>\n The other welcome change is how the battlefield reacts to damage. Buildings and other infrastructures can collapse, and debris or explosions may set off chain reactions that catch nearby targets. Larger vessels no longer always require you to pick off specific weak points, as you can strafe or fire missiles without a lock-on to damage them.<\/p>\n Image: Bandai Namco<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In one of the highlight missions that involves battling a land battleship as it tears through a city with its railguns, I was blown away by the scale and spectacle of it because of its layered objectives and nail-biting drama and twists. I won\u2019t spoil it for you but suffice to say, your first combat against a land battleship is going to pretty jaw-dropping.<\/p>\n In that sense, Wings of Theve wears its Top Gun influence openly, from close-up shots of pilots in their cockpits to the soaring music and radio chatter. Some of its story beats may feel melodramatic, and a few lines of dialogue are cliche enough to pull me out of the moment. But the animation, performances and camera work truly help carry the drama. It\u2019s true the game can be earnest to the point of silliness, then follow it with a scene that genuinely got to me. I did not expect an arcade flight game to make me care this much about the pilots flying with me.<\/p>\n Image: Bandai Namco<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n All in all, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is exactly the sort of arcade flight game I want to spend time with. The dogfights are exciting, the set pieces made me grin, and Joker Flight gave the campaign an emotional pull I wasn\u2019t expecting. The bite-sized missions and straightforward controls also make it easy to pick up for a short session before putting it down. Sure, parts of the campaign could be paced better, and you\u2019ll need to grind for enough currency to buy some of the late-game aircraft. But these are minor distractions, and I was always happy to climb back into the cockpit for one more sortie.<\/p>\n Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Read Full Article At Source <\/a>
\n
\n