Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve offers a robust live-service multiplayer component in Ace Combat Online, providing a potentially years-long experience for players. However, the mode is marred by an overwhelming interface and an aggressive approach to microtransactions, detracting from the otherwise engaging aerial combat.
Upon launching Ace Combat Online, players are immediately presented with a Destiny-esque social hub filled with vendors and other players, leading to a learning curve for navigation. Accessing features like mission selection, challenges, plane customization, and squad management requires interacting with various NPCs, and the game's menus are described as unnecessarily convoluted. For instance, customizing an aircraft involves navigating through multiple layers of menus, from selecting the aircraft loadout to choosing emblem placement, before finally reaching the customization screen. The game does offer a shortcut to return to the lobby from any menu, but the overall menu structure demands significant streamlining.
The process of initiating a match is also less direct than it could be, requiring players to navigate through “Mission,” “Select Mode,” and then “Sortie” options. Claiming rewards from the game's challenges, which are divided into four categories, necessitates individual menu visits for each reward claim. Despite these menu-based frustrations, the moment-to-moment gameplay in Ace Combat Online is consistently tense and exciting.
Multiplayer Modes
When players can successfully get into a match, the experience is highly enjoyable. The game features several modes, with Co-Op Assault and Co-Op Warfare standing out. Co-Op Assault tasks players with destroying enemy weapons and fending off invaders within a time limit, rewarding coordination and quick thinking. Co-op Warfare adds an enemy squad to the battlefield for a more intense experience. The author found these modes to be the most engaging, allowing for team contribution even for less skilled players.
Deathmatch modes, however, were found to be too short, with matches often concluding before significant engagement could occur due to the travel time to the enemy team. The game's live-service nature offers hope for future improvements and tweaks by Bandai Namco.
Microtransactions and Live-Service Concerns
Ace Combat Online incorporates a free season pass, the Ace Pass, with 100 levels of rewards. A premium version of this pass is available for purchase, requiring Ace Coins, which are sold in tiered bundles. The game also offers additional purchasable items such as decals, pilot clothing, and aircraft skins. This monetization strategy draws parallels to free-to-play games like Fortnite, but is applied to a $70 premium title, which the author finds to be an excessive approach.
While the author has largely been able to acquire items using in-game currency earned from matches, the prevalence of microtransactions in a full-priced game leaves a negative impression. This situation reflects a broader industry trend where robust multiplayer components are often tied to live-service models, while games that avoid these systems can sometimes offer less substantial online content, as seen in Star Fox's recent update. The article expresses a desire for a return to a model where premium games include comprehensive multiplayer experiences out-of-the-box.
Despite these criticisms, the core gameplay of Ace Combat Online is praised. With some menu and quality-of-life improvements, the multiplayer mode has the potential to become a regular part of players' rotation, though the author states they will not be spending additional money on the title.