Ace Combat scores the dream collaboration with Top Gun
You can be my wingman anytime.
Ace Combat recently celebrated 25 years (and announced a new one's in the works). While reporting on that I mused about how the best thing Bandai Namco could do for Ace Combat 7 would be the fantasy collaboration with Top Gun: Maverick. Well, clearly someone over at Bandai Namco is a PCG fan because those beautiful suits have done it.
The Top Gun: Maverick collaboration launches on May 26 alongside the film, and will feature three aircraft—though the trailer only shows one, because spoilers. The movie is a sequel where Tom Cruise's Maverick character now teaches a new generation of fighter pilots, and by all accounts it's an absolute cracker.
Ace Combat and Top Gun are both about the same particular fantasy, that of being a roguish pilot flying at supersonic speeds to blow up the baddies and save the world. If there's an Ace Combat fan out there who doesn't also love Top Gun, I would be amazed. It's easy to be cynical about brand collaborations but sometimes the two things are just a perfect match.
The DLC includes Maverick's F/A-18E Super Hornet with insignia unique to the game, as well as an F14A Tomcat which has Maverick and Goose's names under their respective cockpits.
5月26日に、ACE COMBAT™ 7: SKIES UNKNOWNと映画「Top Gun: Maverick」との機体コラボDLC発売が決定!「Top Gun: Maverick」コラボプレイアブル機が登場します!その他の機体は続報にご期待ください!https://t.co/rfvu45lTPe#ACE7 #エースコンバット #TopGunMaverick pic.twitter.com/Pt8jKEt4CqMay 19, 2022
2019's Ace Combat 7 was a triumphant return to what made the series great in the first place: fighter jets blowing each other up in ludicrously OTT scenarios. It's a great laugh and I'll definitely be booting it up again to have a tootle around in Maverick's plane. Heck, if you're as excited about this movie as I am then you might even want Project Aces' celebration phone wallpaper.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."