Project Wingman

shoot missiles at bad guy = win

After AC7 was a fun but sort of disappointing game overall compared to its predecessors, I jumped back onto the PS2 games as the usual replay games for the arcade fix due to a variety of things they did better. Then comes Project Wingman from an extremely dedicated fan of the series who's been working on the PW project since 2015 or so and kicks down the door with his product and honestly, I can assuredly say I'm going to be playing this one a lot more than I'll ever replay 7. As the title of this review implies as well, I hope Project Aces are taking a few notes for whatever AC8 is. Pros: -Flight model has the right amount of weightiness to it so every aircraft feels distinct. -Gameplay in general feels on point with Ace Combat with some QoL additions like holding multiple SP weapons. -Music is ridiculously good for the budget and on par with the best of AC at times. -Banter between fellow pilots is absolutely on point with the right amount of cheese and seriousness needed to be convincing. -Conquest mode is very fun on a replay level if you like the core gameplay. -Final boss on a gameplay perspective is better than any Ace Combat final boss (bold words but I mean it). -Superplane that isn't DLC and severely nerfed for a crappy multiplayer barley anyone plays. Cons: -Story can suffer due to a lack of presentation of context and information at times. The lack of usual cutscenes were due to the small budget unfortunately. -Game sometimes have a few graphical effects that look weak or aren't covered up as well as other (though given some weather effects just outright look better than 7 at times, I'm willing to cut slack). $25 is an absolute steal for what's currently in here and the dev already has plans to add more free content with aircrafts not in the game initially (A-10, Su-47, Rafale, etc.). It'd be an absolute disservice to not support a project like this if you have any care for AC or arcade flight games.

For just 25 euros you get quite a lot of missions, good gameplay and beautiful graphics. Story is good enough to let you focus of blowing stuff up. There are also mods to let you unlock more planes, they're very easy to use. Missions don't have timers, which I like. But they also don't have checkpoints with autosaving, which I dislike. The game works very well with a flight stick, I'm using Thrustmaster T.16000M FCS. This was my first game of this type, so I recommend it to newcomers and Ace Combat fans alike.

This is what I expected what AC7 was but didn't deliver. Fast, no BS missions. No unnecessary cutscenes. Graphics could use a bit of an improvement. Solid fun Ace Combat like game. Controls scheme is excellent for Xbox controller on PC. Would return for DLCs.

I'm not a veteran of many Ace Combat games, but Project Wingman is, I believe, the best AC-styled game" I've seen in years. The controls are tight and are meant for a HOTAS or at the very least, a proper gamepad. Yes, gameplay wise it better than the actual (recent) Ace Combat games released by Bamco and I still can't believe Project Wingman has been made by just three people. You get excellent value for your money even at full price, so if you like the notion of an arcadey combat flight simulator, think no further and buy this.