I was pleasantly surprised by Control, all things considered. Apart from the obvious - that it's a good way to let an RTX graphics card stretch its legs with ray-traced reflections - this game also offers a fairly entertaining gameplay loop, high production value, unique and gorgeous environmental design, and tons of little snippets of lore to find from start to finish. The gameplay itself isn't perfect, but my biggest issues are easily solved via mods that can be found on the Nexus. Adding the ability to swap weapons with the number keys gives you a tremendous amount of variety for how you can deal with enemies, and while some of the game's skills are mundane stat boosts, others offer whole new features and additions to your arsenal. Ammo and energy are both infinite but based on cooldowns/recharge meters, and health is gained from killing enemies - aggressive play and balancing your abilities is encouraged, and you've got a lot of mobility options, as well. What could be improved? Honestly, the game gives me Soulslike or Metroidvania vibes at times, with the level design and "control point" system in particular reminding me of Dark Souls. It's a shame, then, that there are only a handful of truly stand-out boss fights, because those few that do exist are fantastic. They aren't unfair and if you learn the boss's patterns they can be overcome, yet they still took me several attempts to surmount - and those moments were some of the best that Control had to offer. The fact that bosses like that are so few and far between is unfortunate, because it shows that Control *can* offer tough and spectacular encounters. So, apart from that fault, this is a fairly tight experience with an interesting gameplay loop and great visuals. I probably wouldn't recommend it at full price, but I was very happy with it for $19.99, and the game performed very well for me. With a 2070 Super and RT settings at medium, I had one crash my entire time playing, and ~75 FPS throughout.
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.
