Developed in collaboration with One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, One Piece Odyssey is part of the official One Piece canon, and begins during protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his crew of Straw Hat Pirates’ voyage across the New World, when a storm shipwrecks them on a tropical island, where a new journey awaits them. In addition to the base game, the Switch release – which is the game’s Deluxe Edition – also includes the Reunion of Memories DLC. 

One Piece Odyssey is also available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC. 

And we’re going to kick things off, as you may have imagined, by going all the way back to the series’ inception, with the release of its first instalment in 1995. Interestingly enough, the series debuted with a game that was titled Air Combat, not Ace Combat, releasing as a launch title for the original PlayStation. Originally, it was supposed to be a port of an arcade title that Bandai Namco (then known as Namco) had released a couple of years ago, but after the development team realized during development that the PS1 wasn’t powerful enough to be able to run the original game well enough, they decided to just make an entirely new game for the console from scratch.

Air Combat’s arcade-style flight combat gameplay endeared itself to many right out the gate. The game was well received by critics, which was reflected in solid sales as well- solid enough, in fact, that the franchise’s debut outing is still it’s third highest selling game to date, nearly thirty years on from its release. Air Combat was successful enough, in fact, that its publisher quickly greenlit a sequel. It launched not long after, releasing as Ace Combat 2 in 1997, just a couple of years after its predecessor.

One of the biggest things that drove Ace Combat 2’s development, interestingly enough, was designer Masanori Kato’s dissatisfactions with the visuals of the original game, and that, in turn, meant that upping the ante with the production values was one of the development team’s central goals while Ace Combat 2 was in the works. It’s fair to say that they succeeded. Upon its release, the sequel was praised by critics and players alike for not only its significantly improved visuals, but also greater variety in missions, more action-packed flight simulation gameplay, and more, which, combined with solid sales yet again, meant that Ace Combat had quickly established itself as an important IP for Namco.

The series’ third outing came not long afterward, as you may have guessed. Launching after another couple of years in 1999, Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere was the series’ final outing on the PS1- and, in many ways, also one of the series’ more experimental and weirdly ambitious games, especially for its time. In retrospect, there’s plenty that sets Ace Combat 3 apart, but series fans will tell you that its focus on story is one of the chief reasons. Ace Combat as a franchise has become strongly associated with its emphasis on story over the years, and many will tell you that Ace Combat 3 was the game that truly kicked that off in many respects.

The game also did so in a new, near-future setting (which, incidentally, also let you fly spacecraft in addition to your regular planes), while it also went on to become notorious for the stark differences between its Japanese and western releases. The latter, you see, ended up having to leave a great deal on the cutting floor due to severe budget constraints, which means there’s a significant portion of Ace Combat 3 content that is present in its Japanese version, but not its international one- most prominent being a branching storyline that changed based on players’ actions.

Understandably enough, Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere didn’t enjoy the best critical reception in western markets, and that was reflected in its sales. In North America in particular, the game underperformed, and in the end, its total sales were lower than Namco had hoped they would be. Thankfully, that wasn’t the end of the series. In fact, just a couple of years later, Ace Combat made its debut on the PlayStation 2, with Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies coming out in 2001. And as Ace Combat faithful will gladly tell you, this one ranks as probably one of the series’ most pivotal (and best) games.

There’s so much that we now strongly associate with the Ace Combat franchise in general that can be traced back to Shattered Skies. It was, for instance, the first game in the series to be developed by an internal development team dedicated entirely to the Ace Combat franchise, called Project Aces, which is still responsible for developing Ace Combat games to this day. On top of that, Ace Combat 4, which was designed as a reboot after the relative dip that was Electrosphere, was also the first game to establish the Strangereal setting that the series still uses to this day. For those unfamiliar, Strangereal is the name of the fictional universe where the Ace Combat franchise is largely set. Strangereal’s Earth is very similar to the real world in many ways, but things such as countries, the world’s history, weaponry and technology, and more tend to be quite different.

Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies’ attempt to reset the franchise and bring it back on track turned out to be a successful one. It enjoyed widespread critical acclaim, drawing praise for everything from its story to its action-packed linear gameplay to how it leveraged the PS2’s more powerful hardware to deliver top-notch visuals (for the time, at least). In addition to being a critical hit, it was also a big commercial success. In fact, with over 2.64 million units sold, it was the series’ highest selling game until Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown overtook it just a few years ago.

Given how well Ace Combat 04 was received, it’s no surprise looking back that the series’ next game was the kind of iterative sequel that it turned out to be. Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War launched for the PS2 in 2004, a little over a couple of years after its predecessor came out, and by and large, the consensus was that much like Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5 was an excellent combat flight sim- for many of the same reasons, in fact. Ace Combat 5 was happy to be a “more of the same” kind of sequel, building on the previous entry’s foundations with a largely unambitious but well-made and compelling experience. From a sales perspective, it certainly wasn’t the kind of success that Shattered Skies was, but it still sold well enough in its own right.

From that point forward, Bandai Namco also opened up the Ace Combat franchise up to beyond just mainline numbered releases, with several spinoffs releasing over the next few years- like, for starters, top down 2D shooter Ace Combat Advance, which released for the GBA in 2005, or Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War for the PS2 and Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception for the PlayStation Portable, both of which launched in 2006. A few more spinoffs followed in the years afterward- but not before Bandai Namco returned with another mainline numbered entry, with Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation releasing in 2007. This one, however, was another dip for the franchise.

Ace Combat 6 released exclusively for the Xbox 360, which, combined with relatively less enthused reception from critics and players compared to its predecessors, resulted in lower sales than Bandai Namco would have expected. In fact, to date, the game hasn’t managed to breach 1 million units sold even today, and is still the series’ lowest selling mainline entry to date. It doesn’t enjoy the best reputation among fans either. Though fun enough to play in its own right, Ace Combat 6 is deemed by many to be one of the series’ less engaging experiences, whether that’s because of its disappointing story, a handful of annoying design choices, or something else.

Given its unequivocal failure from a commercial point of view, it was no surprise that Fires of Liberation turned out to be Ace Combat’s last mainline game for a long, long time. Several more Ace Combat spinoffs were released by Bandai Namco in the years afterward, but there was a period where it seemed like the series’ stock was plummeting constantly, and whether or not it would ever claw its way back up was anyone’s guess- though, at the time, the smart money would have been on no.

That was thanks in large part to the fact that the series felt like it just didn’t know what it wanted to be with some of the spinoff instalments it put out in the years that followed. In 2010 came Ace Combat: Joint Assault, another PlayStation Portable spinoff, which was notable for being the first ever Ace Combat game to be set in the real world- though there really wasn’t much else that stood out about it. A year later, we got Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, which was also set in the real world, but in its own continuity separate from Joint Assault. Billed as a gritty, realistic take on the Ace Combat formula, Assault Horizon was ultimately an unremarkable, overly linear game that did little to bring Ace Combat back to its glory days. That same year, Bandai Namco also release Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy, which, confusingly enough, had absolutely nothing to do with Assault Horizon, and was instead a remake of Ace Combat 2- and, well, it wasn’t terrible. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t anything beyond unremarkable either, sadly enough.

Then came Ace Combat Infinity in 2014, and somehow, it was an even lower low for the series. Infinity was a freemium, multiplayer-focused game that came out in 2014 as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, which is just an awful combination of bad decisions. Unsurprisingly, it was lambasted by critics almost unanimously, and for many, it became a symbol of the state that Ace Combat had found itself in- a state of complete and utter ruin, to the point where it was being salvation. Or so we thought at that point, at any rate.

Impossibly enough, in spite of the widespread criticism it endured, Ace Combat Infinity somehow managed to be a commercial success for Bandai Namco, which led to the publisher greenlighting a new numbered entry, something that many had though was never going to happen again. Twelve years after the series’ last mainline entry, in 2019, Bandai Namco released Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, and without a shadow of doubt, proved to be worth the wait. A strong campaign, a wealth of modes, solid multiplayer gameplay, VR support, and more came together in one of the series’ strongest outings, and the acclaim it garnered also led to impressive sales. In fact, Ace Combat 7 went on to sell over 4 million units (as of 2022), which makes it the series’ highest selling game by far.

Which brings us to now, at a point where the series’ future is once again looking secure. Ace Combat 7 did an excellent job of bringing the beloved IP back into the limelight, and with its critical and commercial success, Bandai Namco has also reinvested into the franchise. In 2022, in fact, the company established Bandai Namco Aces as the new studio to lead development on all things Ace Combat, while the year prior, it was also announced that Ace Combat 8 was being developed in collaboration with support studio ILCA, and that it would be built on Unreal Engine 5.

It has, of course, been a handful of years since then, which begs the question- just where is Ace Combat 8? Bandai Namco has been working on it for a while, so are we to assume that we’re approaching the time where it will be officially unveiled? Prominent leaker Midori recently took to Twitter and claimed that the flight combat series’ next mainline instalment was indeed Bandai Namco’s next big game- but what exactly does that tell us about when it’ll come out? Is it being lined up for a release within next year or so? And if so, does that mean we should expect an announcement sometime soon?

At this point, all we can do is speculate- but there’s little doubt that there’s no shortage of excitement around what the future holds for the Ace Combat franchise. Hopefully, Bandai Namco will tell us more about exactly what that will entail sooner rather than later.

Responding on Twitter to a user who asked about a potential Tales of Destiny Remake that never happened, she said, “The next large-scale project for Bandai Namco is the Chronicle project in development with support from ILCA and ORCA.” Midori then responded to another user who posited that the Chronicle project is the next Tales game with, “I think it is Ace Combat 8.”

While not hard confirmation, it would make sense. The next Ace Combat was confirmed in August 2021, with brand director Kazutoki Kono noting it would use Unreal Engine 5. Bandai Namco would then tie up with ILCA to lead development on the title and even established a new company in 2022, Bandai Namco Aces, to “deliver high-end games that exceed the expectations of fans around the world.” Based on the studio’s mission statement, Chronicle could be something entirely new.

As always, we’ll need to wait for official confirmation, but with the publisher confirmed for Summer Game Fest on June 7th, there could be an announcement. Stay tuned and check out our review of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.

The next large scale project for Bandai Namco is the Chronicle project in development with support from ILCA and ORCA.

— みどり (@MbKKssTBhz5) May 23, 2024

I think it is Ace Combat 8.

— みどり (@MbKKssTBhz5) May 23, 2024

Based on Akira Toriyama’s 2000 manga, SAND LAND occurs in a post-apocalyptic world with near-endless plains of sand and an acute water shortage. With the Royal Army hoarding much of the water supply, it’s up to the Fiend Prince Beelzebub, Sheriff Rao and Thief to find the Legendary Spring. However, things aren’t as they seem, and the trio must overcome many trials and prejudices to succeed.

Though Beelze can fight hand-to-hand, with his allies providing support, players can also customize and pilot different vehicles against enemies. Each offers other benefits, like the Jump-Bot’s ability to reach higher elevations or the motorcycle’s quick speed. If you’re keen on its gameplay, check out the free demo.

Adapted from Akira Toriyama’s 2000 manga, SAND LAND sees the Fiend Prince Beelzebub and his advisor, Thief, allying with Sheriff Rao. Their mission is to locate the Legendary Spring, but that’s only one part of the story. Throughout their journey, they’ll discover other allies like Ann, a mechanic skilled in repairing and assembling bots.

Those bots are especially essential when traversing the treacherous Sand Land, whether relying on a motorcycle to cross quicksand or a Jump-Bot to surmount obstacles. They also make it easier to go toe-to-toe with the Royal Army, wild creatures and other threats, though Beelze is more than capable of throwing hands.

For more details, check out our review for SAND LAND here. We awarded it a 7 out of 10 for its visuals, narrative, cast and fun vehicular combat, even though the side quest design, dialogue and other aspects were lacking.

SAND LAND takes place in a post-apocalyptic world called, well, Sand Land. Bandits and wild creatures run rampant. Water is a luxury, and with the Royal Army essentially monopolizing it, it’s a struggle for most of humanity to survive. You control Beelzebub, the Fiend Prince, who hangs out with his demon friends, playing video games, reading comic books, and assaulting the Royal Army’s transports to steal water.

"There’s some interesting commentary about the preconceived notions that demons and humans have of each other, represented through the conversations between Rao and Thief."

In fairly quick succession, he meets Sheriff Rao, who seeks help locating the Legendary Spring. Choosing Thief to accompany him, Beelzebub sets out, in no small part motivated by the last remaining video game console. As far as premises, SAND LAND is very straightforward, but that’s one of the appeals. You hit the ground running, exploring the world and familiarizing yourself with the vehicle controls one moment before outrunning a Geji Dragon and beating up some bandits.

Throughout all this, we learn more about Beelze’s strength, how he never runs from a fight, and how demons aren’t supposed to kill. Thief provides comic relief but also serves as a source of wisdom when he’s not sneaking around in a comical Santa Claus outfit to steal stuff. Rao is perhaps the best, fulfilling the responsible adult role, but also possessing surprising tactical acumen. Ann also plays a central role as a mechanic and is equal parts happy-go-lucky and skilled in upgrading, customizing, and building new vehicles.

It’s a motley crew, to be sure, but they play off each other quite well. There’s some interesting commentary about the preconceived notions that demons and humans have of each other, represented through the conversations between Rao and Thief.

Meanwhile, Beelze and Ann are the more future-facing heroes, tackling whatever comes their way and constantly moving forward. The voice acting is solid in this regard, though some dialogue and localization aren’t the best. It’s serviceable overall and shines the most when focusing on the core cast. However, I could do without characters repeating the same lines and advice ad nauseam.

"The vehicles are the main attraction, as each has a unique function while exploring the world and different weapon loadouts and traits in combat."

There are plenty of other characters to encounter in the Sand Land, from the Swimmers and their obsession with taking out Beelze to the arrogant but ultimately honorable General Are. I wasn’t too enamored by the main threats since they come off as comically evil at times with very little else to them. They don’t ruin the experience by any means but they also don’t stand out. The game does a pretty good job of creating stakes, even as Beelze whoops almost all challengers without breaking a sweat, but as a whole, you shouldn’t expect anything too extensive.

There are two main gameplay components to SAND LAND – traveling on foot, which turns it into a beat-’em-up style game, and vehicles, which form the bulk of exploration and combat. Beelze can unleash light and heavy attacks and perform tricks on stunned opponents, amounting to tossing them around. Special skills eventually become available, from rush combos to tossing boulders. Rao and Thief don’t participate directly in combat, but you can call them in to assist, and they have their benefits (like the latter causing enemies to drop more items or money).

Hand-to-hand combat can feel simple initially, but you’ll eventually unlock combos, launching enemies into the air to juggle them, sliding sweeps, and charged attacks. Overall, it’s solid—again, nothing extraordinary—but smooth and responsive, though I would have preferred better tells on enemies. A faint red glow is hard to make out at times.

The vehicles are the main attraction, as each has a unique function while exploring the world and different weapon loadouts and traits in combat. Your first is a tank capable of firing heavy armor-piercing rounds and machine gun fire, though it’s not the fastest. The Jump-Bot is next, a bi-pedal bot capable of accessing higher terrain and stomping on enemies (which I found underwhelming). It also has a machine gun but lobs grenades in an arc.

"Though this isn’t a seamless open-world game, with some towns and areas requiring a loading screen, it incorporates several elements of the same."

Other options open up quickly, and while leading to interesting encounters, they also play a part when progressing through the story. Thanks to the miracles of capsule technology, you can store vehicles and deploy them instantly, blowing up a cracked boulder with a tank one moment and accessing the high ground the next with the Jump-Bot. Since you’ll encounter enemy vehicles and ground infantry, not to mention overwhelming creatures, the vehicular combat feels more engaging.

There’s also a hefty amount of crafting and upgrading, whether you’re leveling the vehicle’s base stats, unlocking new Chip Slots (which can offer different benefits like more health or disrupting foes), or adding new parts. The gear grind is thankfully not that hefty—you can get by on salvaging parts from defeated enemies and opening chests—but be prepared to kill and collect everything you see since the resource demand is no joke. At times, it felt like the amount of Zeni wasn’t enough, necessitating a quick visit to the store to sell any excess materials.

Combat isn’t too challenging overall, especially when you’ve leveled your vehicle and its weapons enough (at least on Normal). Still, there’s some satisfaction in mowing down hordes of foes and blowing up tanks, which is a good thing since there’s a lot of it. Like in regular combat, your allies can assist in different ways, like Rao magically rolling up in his own tank (and admittedly not doing much due to some AI kerfuffles) or Ann refilling your health.

Though this isn’t a seamless open-world game, with some towns and areas requiring a loading screen, it incorporates several elements of the same. You’ll cruise around on seemingly endless plains of sand, exploring caves with chests of parts, jumping on rock formations to mine materials, saving wandering NPCs from attacks, and fighting Alpha monsters, who do put up a pretty good fight and encourage skillful boost usage without burning out.

"SAND LAND won’t win any awards for its mechanics or gameplay systems, and even with the interesting characters and setting, the story can feel pretty typical and even cliched."

However, the range of activities does feel a bit lacking. SAND LAND has an extensive range of side quests, yet they boil down to picking up and delivering materials, slaying some monsters and defeating enemies for bounties, or partaking in battle arenas. While this can get monotonous, at least the game sticks to its strengths, which is the combat. There are some vehicle races to mix things up slightly, and as you complete tasks in Spino, it starts to change for the better (even providing a room that you can customize to your liking).

It is somewhat odd that the development team didn’t play around a bit more with survival mechanics. Despite the dire state of the world, water is plentiful, located in random outposts throughout the world, and all it does is restore your health. Granted, elements like dehydration would probably interfere with the overall game flow, so I won’t complain. It’s just weird, given the state of the world.

Visually, the world is stunning to behold, maintaining the manga’s aesthetic (right down to the shading) while still looking high-fidelity. The atmospherics, lighting, and particle effects are especially important in a setting like this, and they’re capably handled, making you really feel like a Fiend Prince traversing a roiling hot desert and being cooked by the sun.

SAND LAND won’t win any awards for its mechanics or gameplay systems, and even with the interesting characters and setting, the story can feel pretty typical and even cliched. Nevertheless, as an adaptation, it’s a solid action RPG with a significant amount of vehicle customization and combat, gorgeous graphics, and extensive activities, making for a fun experience.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Set in the titular Sand Land, SAND LAND is about Beelzebub, the Fiend Prince, hanging out with his fellow demons, stealing water from the Royal Army, and idling away the time. After Sheriff Rao approaches him to find the Legendary Spring and hopefully solve the drought afflicting humans throughout the world. Together with Thief, the trio set out.

Beelzebub is strong, Rao is tactical, and Thief is sneaky, but other tools are required to progress forward. To that end, players can customize tanks, Jump-Bots, motorcycles, and more with different weapons, suspensions, and chips to bypass obstacles and take out enemy creatures and the Army’s soldiers.

SAND LAND launches on April 26th for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Check out the free demo to try its vehicular combat.

Players can create all kinds of vehicles, each capable of different functions, like the hovercar for traversing water and rougher terrain or Battle Tanks for taking on foes. They can carry up to five at a time, but at some points, it seems Beelzebub is capable of throwing hands, powering up and unleashing Light and Heavy attacks.

He can learn new skills and abilities throughout the game to become more effective in combat, and even his companions – Sheriff Rao, Thief, and Ann – help out. SAND LAND launches on April 26th worldwide for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. A free demo is available now on all platforms – head here for more details.

The game will be coming to the Nintendo Switch in the form of a Deluxe Edition, which means that on top of the base experience, it will also include the Reunion of Memories DLC, which launched in May last year. The expansion adds roughly an additional 5-6 hours of play time to the experience, depending on how extensively you choose to engage with its content offerings.

One Piece Odyssey tells an original story that was developed in collaboration with One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, and is set during Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates’ voyage along the Grand Line. The game is currently available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC.

Based on a short manga series by the late Akira Toriyama, SAND LAND sees a Friend Prince named Beelzebub, Sheriff Rao and Thief on a quest to find the Legendary Spring. It’s easier said than done between nigh-endless deserts, wildlife, the Royal Army and other threats. Fortunately, players can construct different vehicles to make the journey easier.

You can create motorbikes, Jump-bots, Battle Tanks and much more, each fulfilling a specific purpose and featuring a variety of customization options. There’s also Spino, a city that serves as the player’s base and features various NPCs to interact with and take on requests.

SAND LAND launches on April 26th for the above platforms. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.