Multiplayer Ace Combat 8 Bertujuan Meningkat Lebih Tinggi dari Sebelumnya | Pratinjau IGN

Key Preview Takeaways:

• Multiplayer is split into several mission types.
• Co-op Warfare is the mode that most interested me during my demo.
• The 100-player lobbies are meant to be like friendly air force bases that players can roam and socialize in.

It’s hot in Germany. Most buildings don’t have air conditioning. Gamescom does, but it’s still hot and noisy, even in the business area that’s not as crowded. I’m here to talk about Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve’s multiplayer with Ace Combat Series Brand Director Kazutoki Kono and Ace Combat 8 Producer Manabu Shimomoto. I don’t get to play it myself, but I do get to see what they’re working on. And it looks impressive.

Wings of Theve’s multiplayer is built around three things: co-op and versus missions, customizing your aircraft, and the online lobby, which can accommodate up to 100 players at once. Ace Combat 8 is clearly aiming high. Shimomoto told me there were two reasons:

“First, while many customers enjoyed Ace Combat 7 and became fans, we received feedback from the community asking for a place where those fans could connect and interact with one another. In response to that feedback, we added the lobby to serve as a gathering place for fans. Second, thanks to everyone’s support, Ace Combat 7 is still selling well even seven years after its release. We designed it to be enjoyable for a wide variety of players—whether they prefer cooperative play or competitive play.”

Ace Combat 8 looks to have no shortage of either. Wings of Theve’s multiplayer is split into several mission types: Main Missions, which are always available and have rewards that scale based on rank; Emergency Mission, which are special, time-limited jaunts; and Event Missions, which are regular, time-limited missions with units to planes and roles.

It’s a lot, so let’s break it down. Each category is divided into two gametypes. For Main Missions, that’s Co-op Assault, where two teams of four compete for the highest score. Co-op Warfare is what really caught my eye, though. It’s a PvPvE mode where two teams of four (you’re gonna hear this phrase a lot, so bear with me) compete amid air, sea, and land units. Strategy will be based around what the team calls “Threat Level” and “Aces.”

When I asked about it, Shimomoto told me a lot of effort had gone into getting it right. “Co-op Warfare was created to address some issues in the series,” he said. “Up until now, Ace Combat’s multiplayer has had two problems: First, when players of similar skill levels face off, the two aircraft tend to circle around each other, fighting for position from behind, which makes it hard for the action to develop. We wanted to fix that. [Secondly,] we wanted to create a mode where aircraft other than fighters could also play an active role. In PvPvE, in addition to player enemies, NPC enemies also appear. It incorporates the “farming” concept from MOBA games, where defeating enemies raises the Threat Level. Especially early in a match, it’s easy to raise the Threat Level by defeating NPC enemies. For example, Attackers excel at raising the Threat Level by destroying large numbers of NPC aircraft, while Fighters excel at shooting down enemy players whose Threat Level has risen. We’ve succeeded in creating thrilling battles where a variety of roles shine.”

I never thought I’d hear Ace Combat compared to a MOBA, but if the Wings of Theve team has found a way to make sure that every playstyle can contribute and every plane has a role, Co-op Warfare is something I’ll definitely be keen to check out.

Emergency Missions, meanwhile, are different. You’ve got Scramble, where your squadron of four takes on an NPC squadron in a dogfight. Emergency Sortie is what I think most people will glom onto, though. In this mode, an eight-man squadron will team up to take down some of the series’ superweapons. Shimomoto told me that it wouldn’t make sense story-wise to fight bosses from previous entries, so the online mode doesn’t actually take place in Ace Combat’s traditional setting of Strangereal. I didn’t learn anything more than that, but I’m interested to see what that might mean for the rest of Wings of Theve’s online mode.

Finally, Event Missions are where you’ll find Ace Combat’s dedicated PvP, whether that’s 4v4 team deathmatch or eight-player deathmatch, and wins will help you climb the rankings. Multiplayer will feature the same core design as the campaign, so you won’t be at a loss if you’re coming straight from the campaign with no PvP dogfighting under your belt. But you might use weapons differently. “For example,” Shimomoto told me, “the special weapon ‘4AAM’ is primarily designed in Campaign Mode to take down multiple enemies simultaneously using multi-lock-on. However, in Online Mode, you can use it to fire four missiles in rapid succession at a single enemy, increasing your number of attacks to corner the opposing player.”

No matter what you do, you’ll level up and earn rewards you can spend on new fighters and parts to upgrade your planes. There will also be a paid and free battlepass, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Finally, there’s the lobby itself. One-hundred-player lobbies are massive, but the Ace Combat team has also put a lot of effort into making them places you can hang out. When I asked how they went about designing it, they told me it was a complex process: “There was some discussion within the development team about what to do with the place where players gather, but Kono came up with the idea of making it an air force base. We want players to feel as if they’re gathering with friends at an air show. There are even fighter jets flying overhead at the base.”

You’ll also be able to customize your looks, create your squadron, and just hang out. The team told me they hoped this would be a place players would gather and spend time together. “In addition to text chat, players can use stickers and emojis to communicate, allowing them to enjoy the game even across language barriers,” Shimomoto explained. “Also, fans of the series are very welcoming to new players. Since there’s a feature that lets four players train together, we want to create a space where they can practice together and then head out on missions. Beginners can play with other beginners, or they can team up with experienced players to play together. This mode is designed to be easy for anyone to get started with, so we really hope many people will enjoy it.”

Ace Combat 8’s multiplayer seems built around the idea of the squadron. You know, the guys you’re ride or die with, but also the idea that anybody can be an ace, and making a place where more experienced players can take newbies under their (literal) wings. You don’t have to be great on a stick initially to enjoy Ace Combat, but part of the joy of it is becoming a better pilot. I’m glad that Wings of Theve is built with Ace Combat’s incredibly dedicated community in mind. If we see each other in the skies, let’s swap a couple tricks of the trade, yeah? After all, when you’re an ace, you wanna fly against (and with) the best.

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Will Borger is an IGN freelancer. You can find him on Bluesky @edgarallanbro.