Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve launches into a reality where its predecessor, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, became easily the most successful entry in the series.

That puts it in an odd spot; there's a pressure on the follow-up to outdo what came before, but it's that success that provides Bandai Namco Aces the means to do so.

Fortunately, the developer has deftly threaded the needle; Wings of Theve is the biggest budget, most robust entry to date, representing the Ace Combat series at its most confident.

This is still the same action-packed, arcadey flight shooter you know and love, but it's all been turned up a notch.

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Fundamentally, this is a very familiar experience for anyone who's played Ace Combat before. Take real-world military aircraft, equip them with an outlandish number of missiles, and place them in an alternate reality world with larger-than-life super weapons and a melodramatic story — it's an unusual formula, but it's one that's been refined over decades.

At the heart of the series is its core gameplay that's largely the same as it's always been. You hear your mission briefing, choose your plane, and then go to town shooting down targets like there's no tomorrow.

The thing is, it's still damn fun to do. Intuitive, responsive controls make flying a breeze, and landing missile strikes on other planes or ground targets is as satisfying as it's ever been.

However, Wings of Theve might be the best Ace Combat has ever felt. It's honed the action to a fine edge; it feels wonderfully smooth to play, and improved presentation just makes everything pop all the more.

Even though your actions in the game rarely shift from dogfights and dropping bombs, I never once got tired of the campaign, which manages to keep things varied across 30 missions.

Whether you're laying waste to enemy facilities, defending allies from attacks on all sides, or taking on ridiculous creations like the land battleship, the campaign does enough to give each sortie a fresh feel, of course backed up by the context of the story.

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The setup is great. You're rescued by the Endurance, an aircraft carrier aligned with the FCU — a country that's been blindsided by an invasion from the Republic of Sotoa.

You quickly learn of the Wings of Theve, a legendary pilot who serves as a symbol of hope for the FCU people. It transpires the legend is fake, and when the man representing it is killed in action, you inherit the moniker, as well as his wingmen.

The way the story is presented is quite the departure for Ace Combat; cutscenes are mostly from a first-person perspective, which makes you feel more involved in the action, and much-improved visuals serve the campaign well in some intense scenarios.

However, I'm not completely convinced by the story itself. Broadly speaking it's on par with what's come before, but there are a lot of place names, people, and allegiances to keep track of, and there are some plot points I found a little confusing.

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While the story can get a little lost in itself, I do think the voice acting is on point — which is to say it's perfectly cheesy. Never change, Ace Combat.

A focal point of the game is your squad — they're prominent in the story and pretty much every mission in the campaign.

As you make progress, you'll visit the aircraft tree, gradually unlocking better planes for yourself, but also your wingmen. It's a little finicky to navigate, but works well enough.

Anyway, before each mission, you select a plane to fly, and you can pick what your allies are piloting too.

Then, during missions, a returning feature allows you to issue simple commands to them. They're much more competent here than in previous games, so this small layer of strategy can make a surprising difference.

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On top of all that, you'll be hearing from them frequently with near-constant radio chatter. You'll get a sense of their personalities through the comms as much as the cutscenes as they discuss the mission at hand, keeping you informed about what's going on.

The overarching narrative is a decent effort and its presentation is a real step up, but I think it's most successful in placing you among characters you'll care about.

Speaking of presentation, Wings of Theve is no slouch in terms of visuals. I spotted some rare low quality textures here and there, but this is a seriously good-looking game.

Playing on a standard PS5, I opted to prioritise frame rate (60 frames-per-second is a must for Ace Combat). The image quality doesn't suffer much compared to the quality mode, though it can occasionally look a little soft in places.

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I think even more impressive than the graphics, though, is the sound design. This game's soundscape feels designed to make you feel badass — your plane will cause a sonic boom as it breaks the sound barrier; explosions as you kill enemies are super crisp and satisfying.

This is also a rare third-party PS5 game that makes impactful usage of the DualSense. The triggers vibrate when you pull off high-G turns, and the haptic feedback is constantly in use, reacting to nearly everything happening on screen.

Regarding multiplayer, I was able to briefly sample it during the review phase, and the only issue really was long waits during matchmaking, but this was certainly down to low player numbers on pre-launch servers. When I got into a game, it ran perfectly fine.

I really like the emphasis on co-op, but there's a decent range of game types available. Fans will really like the Emergency missions, which see you take on giant super weapons from previous games in the series.

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I wasn't able to get a grasp on how grindy the multiplayer will be — you can level up each plane individually based on usage, and you have to unlock each one using a currency you earn from completing multiplayer matches.

I feel like it could be a fun thing to dip in and out of without too much commitment, but there's plenty of depth there as an endgame location for die-hards.

Conclusion

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is the most sure-footed the series has ever been, confidently refining its punchy aerial gameplay and doubling down on a more cinematic story. While there are some wobbles here and there, the much improved presentation, charming character performances, varied campaign, and deeper multiplayer experience offer up a sequel that makes a textbook landing.