Ace Combat director says 'I've been doing this for 30 years, so I know exactly how hard we're going'—and after playing it, I can confirm Ace Combat 8 goes extremely hard

Remember the first five minutes of Top Gun: Maverick where Tom Cruise dies in a tragic crash, but not before magically passing his pilot's spirit and innate talent to the young hotshot who becomes the new Maverick? No? You're telling me that I just made that up? Well, look: That might be true. But I want you to imagine, for a moment, a world in which Top Gun: Maverick was an anime, and ghost Cruise stuck around the rest of the movie whispering stick jockey wisdom in his unnamed protege's ear.

Welcome to Ace Combat.

A ghost pilot living in my head in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve might stand out as odd if you don't know that the flight series has built up a reputation over the years for being batshit crazy (complimentary). It has about as much in common with Microsoft Flight Simulator as Mad Max has in common with test driving a Toyota Corolla around the dealership parking lot.

I haven't played Flight Sim in a while, but I don't think it features an evil Shadow Squadron of pilots who play ominous music over the radio while they're coming to kill you, or the option to load 120 missiles onto an F/A-18E Super Hornet. And last I checked, Flight Simulator was sorely ...