Ace Combat 8 review: anime melodrama in high-speed dogfights

CNET reviewed Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, the latest entry in Bandai Namco's long-running jet combat series. The author finished the campaign in about 25 hours, praising its cinematic anime-style storytelling, spectacle-heavy battles against massive war machines and tightly paced missions.

• The Ace Combat 8 campaign takes roughly 25 hours to complete
• The story leans on earnest melodrama and the philosophy of flight
• Battles feature massive land and air vehicles bristling with weapons
• The review praises tight pacing with little downtime