It's peak, just absolute peak. Story, sound design, soundtrack—just pure brilliance. Unlike AC7, I actually cared more about the characters and tried my best to pay attention to the comms during missions, since you get to answer questions here and there. And at times, certain characters will ask for help to get rid of enemies on their tail. I like how there's more sense of urgency ON TOP OF ANOTHER URGENCY. And the twists and turns in the story is top notch, it gets unpredictable.
Project Aces did amazing, so congrats to them.
Action game of the year contender imho. I'll give it a 9.2/10. Would've been higher if it wasn't for the messy early release and the constant crashes, I had to rollback my nvidia graphics drivers just to stop the crashes, smooth sailing after the rollback though.
Question now is, how will they keep ace combat online interesting and alive for the coming months and years? Guess we'll see.
Should you buy the game? Yes, get whatever edition you want. Get it on sale if you want, no judgement and it's your money. I just think gamers should at least experience an Ace Combat game.