Gameplay—Combat where the pace has slowed, making action selection and outmaneuvering enemy aircraft crucial
Visually, aspects such as the game’s HUD and the 3D models of the aircraft don’t appear to have changed significantly, aside from the higher resolution of the aircraft models. However, the battle balance has changed significantly from the previous title.
The most notable change is the aircraft’s handling. When performing a roll or pitch-up, it takes a little time to reach maximum angular velocity, making the movements feel slightly sluggish.
This behavior is similar to that seen in previous titles such as *Sky Crawlers: Innocent Teseus* and *Ace Combat 6*—while the angular velocity is slow for a few frames after a maneuver is initiated, it reaches its maximum angular velocity when the input is sustained for several dozen frames.
As a result, when rolling the aircraft during a dogfight or initiating evasive maneuvers while accelerating or decelerating, a brief pause—similar to a lag—occurs, effectively forcing players to take appropriate risks. This risk—the time lag between an action and its outcome—is also reflected in the aircraft’s acceleration and deceleration.
For example, the “F-14D” in this game has reduced acceleration performance compared to *ACE7*, and it takes longer to return to its original speed after slowing down. Consequently, recovering from low speeds has also become more difficult.
Furthermore, since enemy aircraft have been similarly nerfed, players can now enjoy dogfights where they corner their opponents while managing the risk of vulnerability during turns.In particular, when chasing an enemy aircraft, the enemy will attempt to shake off your pursuit by employing various aerial maneuvers—such as barrel rolls, scissors, and acceleration—to evade your attacks.
As you play through many missions, there are also scenes where you’re attacked by multiple enemy aircraft, so if you feel you’re at a disadvantage, you’ll need to pull back from the enemy to regroup.
Also, while I haven’t conducted a detailed analysis, it felt like missiles were hitting their targets more reliably than before when I positioned myself firmly behind an enemy aircraft and fired.
This stands in contrast to the previous game, where there were many moments when it was unclear why you’d defeated minor enemies or bosses, leaving players with a sense of dissatisfaction. Maneuvering at low speeds is particularly challenging, and gun kills require precise control techniques. However, even with these clear risks, I didn’t feel the controls were difficult to handle.
Since players cannot recover immediately from a misstep—it takes a bit of time—caution is required for every single action choice. In other words, because you cannot recover instantly even if you maneuver the craft abruptly, “tunnel-diving” elements are kept to a minimum in this game (though they do exist), and even when you do dive in, the distance is short and the action is relatively mild.
Furthermore, this difficulty becomes particularly evident not only in dogfights with enemy aircraft but also during ground attacks. If you choose the wrong attack approach to a target, it takes time to recover, and you cannot maximize damage or the efficiency of target destruction. What helps offset this difficulty is the ability to equip two types of special weapons.
The ability to carry two types of special armaments is a feature that has long been debated in various ways among Ace Combat fans, and it was first implemented in this installment, *ACE8*.Not only does this allow for multi-role operations against both air and ground targets, but it also enables you to specialize your loadout for either air or ground combat to enhance your effectiveness, creating a weapon configuration capable of virtually wiping out almost any target.
Note that each time you press the weapon-switch button, the system cycles through standard missiles → Special Weapon 1 → Special Weapon 2; holding the button down returns you to standard missiles.
It’s not just about choosing the aircraft and parts—you must also consider the selection of wingmen and anticipate risks based on the battle situation, then mitigate them through skill and command. Precisely because the player’s aircraft isn’t overpowered or all-purpose, the key lies in deciding which risks to accept and how to minimize damage while maximizing returns.
That judgment is where the player’s skill truly shines, and it’s the core of the game’s appeal. Honestly, I was surprised they managed to achieve such a nuanced balance.
Furthermore, due to this battle balance, there were many situations in certain missions where it was actually easier to complete them by switching back to a plane I’d used previously. It’s wonderful that the game achieved a balance that prevents players from relying solely on high-performance planes found toward the right side of the aircraft tree. This made me strongly realize that every aircraft has its own strengths and weaknesses.
As for minor improvements affecting the feel of aerial combat, one notable feature is the ability to turn the aim’s “future prediction” on or off. When future prediction is on, the crosshairs react to enemy movements, causing them to shift even while you’re aiming; however, when turned off, the crosshairs react only to your own unit’s movements, significantly improving accuracy.
One reason the machine guns in this game are so easy to aim is not only the ability to choose this type of aiming correction but also the fact that tracer rounds are now displayed, making it easier to fire with lead.
As a result, you can now employ tactics to contain enemy aircraft that go beyond simply locking onto them with missiles.
As a result, gradually dealing damage with machine guns to an enemy aircraft that is trying to evade you effectively forces the opponent to change its course. Consequently, machine guns not only serve as a deterrent in dogfights but have also become a prominent weapon for pursuing targets when missile shots miss.
Additionally, while this doesn’t directly affect gameplay, if you listen closely to the sound effects, you’ll notice that sounds like the throttle opening and closing, as well as the wind noise during roll and pitch maneuvers, are rendered with greater detail than in the previous title.In terms of attention to detail and craftsmanship—including the aircraft balance mentioned earlier—the game has improved, making it fun and rewarding to explore and discover each aircraft’s unique characteristics.
When you list these changes side by side, it becomes clear that the combat balance has shifted to the point where it stands apart from previous titles. This shift itself has made the risks and penalties in aerial combat more explicit, effectively forcing players to decide what kind of aerial combat they want to engage in.
In my opinion, the fact that enemy movements are easier to read and attack opportunities are clearer results in an air combat design with unprecedented depth. I felt this was an excellent adjustment.
However, while the F-35C—the top-tier multi-role aircraft—aligns perfectly with this game’s handling philosophy, the F-22A, the top-tier fighter, has certainly been tuned in the style of *ACE 8*, yet it still feels distinctly like an *ACE 7* aircraft.Since it reaches maximum angular velocity faster than other aircraft when rolling or pitching up, there were noticeable instances where it didn’t seem to be given the appropriate level of risk—beyond just being unsuitable for ground attacks.
I couldn’t help but feel that the developers were afraid to tone down the F-22A’s excessive strengths—perhaps because it’s a long-time fan favorite and an icon of past *Ace Combat* games.
Even if its appearance hasn’t changed much, its inner workings have undergone significant changes. The gameplay in this title can be seen as the result of directly confronting the issues present in previous installments and thoroughly addressing them.
