We Own The Sky

There’s a mission in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve that opens with Joker Squadron, spearheaded by the player, cruising through the open skies in an almost dreamlike fashion. Surrounded by bountiful clouds, it’s a tranquil respite for your war-hardened crew, as they coast above the boundary of ocean and sky.

The peace is soon broken, though, as you find the telltale contrails of your targets – a cargo plane loaded with battleship parts, alongside its escort – and the endless azure lights up like a rustled hornet’s nest. Jets tear through the sky, missiles whip by, and guns spray projectiles; the clouds turn to thunderstorms, matching the intensity of the deadly ballet around them. This is Ace Combat: gorgeous, deadly, and pushing its pilots to their limits in the battlefield of the sky.

Set roughly 10 years after Ace Combat 7, Wings of Theve scoops you out of the ocean and places you onto the Endurance, an aircraft carrier for the Federation of Central Usea. A sudden invasion from the country of Sotoa has pushed the FCU into disarray, led to the rise of Separatist groups, and forced divisions like those aboard the Endurance into an impossible fight, outgunned and outmanned at seemingly every corner.

You become the hope of the FCU as a second disaster leads to the player donning the mantle of the Wings of Theve, an ace pilot folk hero meant to inspire their nation. Of course, this draws some attention; your crew, aware of the charade, is designated to keep you alive when you sortie, while Sotoa deploys lethal Shadow squadrons to hunt and wipe out your team.