Project Wingman

Project Wingman has already prompted a lot of discussion over whether it is better or worse than Bandai Namco’s own arcade flight action series. But I think these discussions tend to miss the point a bit: instead, PW helps highlight the underappreciated strengths of Ace Combat more than anything else. This game lacks the professional presentation that Ace offers, though that’s to be expected from such a small team. The visuals and audio design aren’t as consistent and polished as Ace Combat 7, and there are bugs and glitches to deal with still, actively being worked on by the devs. In return, there are a lot of options here that Ace lacks – FOV, HUD color, incredibly detailed key mapping, axis assignment, and so on. Welcome additions all around. As for the campaign, this game relies on no gimmick levels (canyon runs, radar avoidance, etc), and instead every mission entails destroying lots of targets. It’s a cross between the game design of Ace Combat 04 and 6, and it’s likely to be fun for veterans of the series, but it highlights the pacing issues that come with only having pure combat missions. Gimmick levels aren’t as replayable, but they help with pacing tremendously. Similarly, the story has some strengths over Ace, and some big weaknesses. I care more about the wingmen here than in any Ace game, and I know more about them too. The voiced WSO is also welcome. But there are no cutscenes, and the game has quite a few glaring plot holes - not to mention that it ends on a terrible note, narratively face-planting during the home stretch. These problems could have been remedied with some Ace Combat 04-style slideshow cutscenes, a lower-budget solution to the storytelling issues. This is a game that Ace Combat fans should certainly look at, but I would be less confident recommending it to people unfamiliar with those games. It doesn't offer the best first impression for this type of game, even if it's fun for series veterans. 4/5 for Ace fans, 3/5 otherwise.

Project Wingman is an incredibly flattering imitation of the Ace Combat series, one that does a superb job of emulating its controls, gameplay and story. This is particularly impressive when you consider that it was made by a 3 man development team at a fraction of the budget of the latest AC game. With a fairly beefy campaign of 21 varied missions along with a more procedural conquest mode, this game certainly isn't lacking in content either. The only thing that I can think of that could have been improved upon would be having a greater variety of aircraft, as the current line up seems to be lacking in specialized ground attack and multirole planes. Overall this is an exceptionally good arcade flight game, and one that any Ace Combat fan should definitely play.

Wow, This is honeslty one of the best games i have played in ages. It truly does feel like a throwback to AC4 in terms of mission designs and strangereal aesthetic AC4 style combat check Strangereal setting check Superweapons check Solid plane selection check (its has harriers!) The game looks good running on the unreal engine, with solid sounds and detailed plane model. VA is solid overall for main characters and battle chatter is on point, with the odd cheesy accent in the mix. Its nice to hear a range of accents as well, which fully fit the setting and story. Music is good with some nice tracks if a little repetitive at some points. If you love the AC series this is a must buy at £20. I really look forward to the next games this team produces as they have set a high bar with this one. You can tell they love the AC games and a lot of heart and soul went into this project.

Note: I bought this on Steam When I was younger I was briefly into the world of flight action games. Air Force Delta, Star Fox 64, Gun Metal, Battle Engine Aquila... I loved games that simulated massive battles and the freedom of air flight in most of these games made their arcade action feel fresh and replayable. But I slept on Ace Combat, knowing of it but not playing a single of the series since the PS1. I didn't even know this game existed until last week, when its soundtrack was used in a YouTube Arma 3 sh*tpost. I wasn't ready. After starting the first mission and fixing the bindings on my 19 YEAR OLD Sidewinder Precision 2 joystick (which worked PERFECTLY) I got sucked into the world of Project Wingman, barrel-rolling through contrails, tracers, missile lock warnings and gorgeous lighting effects as I went full-on-Macross missile swarm on every Federation bootlick I came across. Rousing, triumphant and sometimes tragic music carried me aloft as the plot corny-yet-somehow-perfect plot unveiled surprising twists and arcade-style boss battles that matched the pace of my growing skills. By the time I finished the ($25) game (made by TWO people, THREE if you include the composer) I was left breathless and satisfied in a way I haven't been felt in a game for years. As a person who is NOT an Ace Combat lifer this game felt FRESH and its momentum through the campaign is kept up with more charisma than the game might deserve only because its impact on me is so much more than I expected. I've literally already drafted up plans with a friend to build our own VR arcade cabinet using her A-10 HOTAS controller, an old car seat and a bunch of other accoutrements to make a physical unit to play in because I am BANANAS for this game right now. Easy to play, fun to master, simple and to the point with the right amount of gameplay depth... this game just has a FEEL unique to itself that has to be experienced to be understood. support this developer! We need a sequel!

This game was inspired as Ace Combat, it feels like it, it behaves kinda like it. Its easier. If you want something like HAWX but with actual challenge take it. If you want to find out if you like AC but you don't have 100 GB of free space for a repack - try this game! It's cheaper and WAY smaller. VR support exists and conquest mode is something that you might find lacking in AC! This game IS good! However, just like all theese cheap copycats from Aliexpress this game has some wierd mod-fixable (but not yet fixed) issues. The main problem is this game's visuals. Odd for a VIDEOgame but still. See the helmet with the sun shield on poster? It's not featured in a game. Even worse - on some maps in all horisontal directions you woun't be able to see A THING. Stupidly easy fix for that is contrast the living hell out of whole GUI, not to mention actual render settings. We all know that its not hard to fix. Come on! Thin black lines 1 px thin is NOT HARD TO MAKE. You can't see because not only the sun, but also the sky and everything else around is shiny as all OG's new chromes. Something that AC didn't screw up by the way, so keep that in mind. Another piece of military equipment that is not featured in a game is NVGs. So much so that you can't see a thing in a game on a night maps. You can't see horisont, you can't see your plane, you can't see ground or the sky and you can barely see GUI! Again, something that AC also didn't screw up (just like real air forces). I'm stupid for all that I can do good is something that I was criticised for. That is my motivation for whining. It wasn't hard to make a couple of sprites THICKER. In fact in early access devs were informed about GUI problems. It just was cheaper not to do anything. If you can't see the graphics, you can't say that its bad - if you don't care for it you'll have to. Also the strong anti-war message that was always delivered well in AC, in PW is more of a ludonarrative (and just narrative) dissonance.