How Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Brings High Flying Drama to Xbox Series X|S

Pick up Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Deluxe Edition to start playing September 28 in early access plus a copy of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, available for the first time on Xbox Series X|S.

As you can tell by the trailer footage and screenshots, Ace Combat 8 is an incredible looking game. The work put into the new cloud layer tech really brings the sky to life, as well as the touches on the ground environments that show off some extraordinary attention to detail. Buildings and trees are easily identifiable, and the shape of the canyon terrain is impressive when flying through these large gameplay maps. Same goes for the interior and exterior of the carrier Endurance, your primary home base throughout the game, which shows its wear and tear with pride during the campaign as a floating island of refuge.

Few game franchises capture the fantasy of becoming an ace pilot quite like Ace Combat, with accessible arcade-like controls, beautiful looking fighter jets, and cinematic storytelling, it has long been a recipe for a good time for over 30 years.

That’s good because combat in Ace Combat 8 really tests your ability to understand some basic rules about dogfighting and air combat, it’s far more involved than simply pointing and shooting. Beyond the obvious (don’t hit the ground), being able to manage your aircraft’s speed and positioning to enemy aircraft is key to coming out on top, especially against some of the harder foes you face off with when it starts to feel like a chess match in the skies, trying to anticipate the enemy’s next move.

Between missions is when the characters take center stage. In previous entries, the story largely played out with a briefing map and cinematic cutscenes. Now the story is told from a first-person perspective using the in-game engine, as you hear directly from Joker Flight, tour the carrier deck, sit down in the mess hall, or enjoy some downtime watching a band play. If there was a single feature to highlight about what makes Ace Combat 8 different from previous entries, Joker Flight is that strong differentiating factor that makes you want to continue playing in order to find out what comes next, and who is going to make it back home when all is said and done.

There are four main types of aircraft that you can acquire, and they each have a role to play on the missions: Fighters (combat), Multirole (versatile), Attacker (ground attack), and Electronic Warfare (buffer/support).

There are over 30 aircraft featured in the game, and as you progress through the campaign you earn in-game credits to spend on unlocking additional planes and upgrades in the aircraft tree; completing additional objectives can net you more credits to spend.

Official trailer

GamingBroject VideoWatch directly inside the article

Official source: Xbox Wire

Follow GamingBroject on Google: add us as a preferred source