The Ace Combat franchise, launched in 1995 by the Japanese producer Bandai Namco, has accumulated over 20 million copies across its various sequels. The title's success lies in its ability to blend intense and direct aerial duels with predominantly arcade gameplay, while incorporating certain flight simulation features.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, released at the beginning of the month, successfully executes this combination. Its development involved participation from Saab, the Swedish company that creates the Gripen fighter jet, and Northrop Grumman, the manufacturer of the F-14, along with other aerospace industry companies. The game accurately replicates the cockpit of over 30 aircraft, including those mentioned, which are unlocked as the player progresses through missions.
The game offers two piloting modes: Standard mode, which allows the plane to be controlled simply by rotating the control stick, and Expert mode, which requires control over both the aircraft's roll and pitch. On PC, a yoke can be used if the player owns one. However, the controls are quite simplified, dispensing with any manipulation of the fighters' panels. At the end of certain stages, the player must perform a landing on an aircraft carrier, which can be done manually or automatically.
The missions offered are diverse and engaging. In addition to direct confrontations against other fighters in classic dogfights, there are situations requiring drone interception and bombing runs, or even ship escort. Players fly accompanied by other fighters, to whom they can transmit simple commands, such as directing a specific attack or using a particular weapon. The career mode comprises 30 missions and can take between 15 and 20 hours to complete, depending on the player's pace.
There is a notable effort in developing the narrative, presenting a good amount of dialogue and scenes between characters; however, the overall result is considered somewhat generic. Despite this, the missions themselves are praised. The game also features a robust online mode, offering PvE matches where groups cooperate against an adversary, and PvP matches characterized by direct combat between players.
The graphics are described as beautiful and immersive, especially when viewed from inside the cockpit, given that the lighting and reflections on the aircraft canopy are quite realistic. At several points, it is necessary to fly through clouds, which contributes to making the combat experience more authentic. During tests conducted on PC, the game maintained a stable 60 frames per second at 4K resolution.
This performance was achieved using an RTX 5080 graphics card, which demonstrates great capacity, being capable of processing 56.2 teraflops. This graphical power represents five times the capacity of the PlayStation 5 and exceeds estimates for the next generation of consoles, expected in 2027 or 2028. The RTX 5080 supports Nvidia's DLSS 5 Neural Rendering technology, which promises to transform the aesthetics of games. However, Ace Combat 8 does not yet implement this feature, only offering traditional DLSS functionalities, such as upscaling and AI-generated frames. It is expected that Bandai Namco will add Neural Rendering, as theoretically the process would not be excessively complex.
In summary, Ace Combat 8 lives up to the franchise's name, presenting a satisfying career mode and excellent multiplayer combat, keeping the series at the top of air combat titles. The game is available for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series, with prices ranging from R$ 309.50 to R$ 399.90. The PS5 version can also be purchased in physical media for R$ 380 on Amazon.