Most of the time, when attending an event like Summer Game Fest, I can find my way around the demos presented to me.
This year, I went hands-on with around two dozen games during the three-day Play Days event. And sure, every one of them came with a brief moment of feeling out the controls and getting my bearings before properly setting off. The key word there, though, is “brief”; that feeling-out process isn’t supposed to last the entire demo time.
However, during my last appointment of SGF late Monday afternoon, there I sat in the dull glow of the makeshift fighter jet cockpit Bandai Namco built for those going hands-on with Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve, having a hell of a time trying to wrap my head around what the demo was asking me to do.
Maybe it was because it was the final appointment of a long, long weekend of appointments and trailers. Maybe it was because, while I’ve dabbled in Ace Combat before, most of that dabbling came in the PS1/PS2 days. Whatever it was, I was not impressing the poor Bandai Namco rep assigned to walking me through this demo, but you know what? I was still having a damn good time.
The SGF demo for Ace Combat 8 essentially carved the first five missions out of the main game, cutscenes and all. I didn’t have the time to watch every second of those cutscenes, but I did give each one a few minutes before moving to the next one, and I got the gist of what’s going on here. Wings of Theve picks up after the events of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, and it follows an officer in the fictional Federation of Central Usea (FCU) air force who takes up the mantle of a star pilot, callsign Rex, after that pilot is killed in a separate attack.
These first missions focus on the new Rex getting his bearings and learning how to fly with the rest of the group, which sounds awfully similar to my current situation. I learn how to fly the plane, lock onto enemies, and fire missiles to shoot them down. I’m told about my plane’s special weapon, which allows me to lock on to multiple targets and shoot a wave of missiles at them, and I’m given a chance to test that as well.
The scene eventually shifts to the open air, where I’m engaged in a high-speed dogfight against a fleet of enemy fighters, bombers, and recon drones as I defend the aircraft carrier that doubles as my home. At first, I’m holding my own, zooming around the sky and taking down enemies that end up in my sights. Eventually, a second wave of fighters approaches, and I’m sent to greet them with that special weapon of mine.
In one of the few moments of pure victory in my demo, I manage to wipe out all four fighters in this wave with a single shot of my special weapon. This felt incredible, and I felt unstoppable…until the game revealed that another wave was coming from another direction. This, unfortunately, is where everything fell apart.
I found myself unable to line up the special shot again, and half of my missiles missed their targets. Attempting to get the drop on individual planes proved suddenly difficult, as they would dart out of the way of my missiles at the last second, when I thought I had the shot lined up. Sharp turns proved very difficult, until I finally figured out the timing at the worst possible moment; the mission was lost, and I had to try again.
My second run through this mission went much better, thanks to knowing what was coming ahead of time. I saved my cruiser and moved on to the next mission just as my time with the demo came to an end.
Now, let me be absolutely clear: All of these troubles come down to user error. A few of my fellow media members I spoke to after the fact did not have the same issues I had, and were able to beat this challenge with little issue. The demo presented by Bandai Namco was fine; it was me who was having the issues.
No, I’m telling on myself here because despite my troubles with the game, Ace Combat 8 left me with a smile on my face. Flying these jets feels really good, and the visual fidelity of the planes on-screen is impressive. The banter between the other members of my squad alternates between light and urgent seamlessly, and I could feel the relationships with each teammate forming as I played. I might have struggled, but I enjoyed the struggle and wanted to improve, and that is the mark of something good.
My time with Ace Combat 8 has inspired me to give the franchise more time, in the hopes that when Wings of Theve arrives in October, I’ll be better prepared to hop into the cockpit. For now though, despite my fatigued futility in this demo, I can see the vision of what this new Ace Combat is trying to achieve, and the sky is the limit.
