Made by the fans of Ace Combat, for the fans of Ace Combat. And if you’d ask if it’s as good as Ace Combat, I’d say no - it’s even better.

TL;DR: Perfect for the fans, great on its own.

Gameplay-wise, it’s the same aircraft shooter gameplay fans of AC have cherished for two and a half decades. I’d like to have more thoughts in this section but I simply can’t. Project Wingman took everything best from this genre and multiplied it by the plot freedom - it’s not like you shoot down the whole world around you but are still a part of a story larger than you, you are praised for your achievements appropriately. And while some levels leave much to be desired in terms of retention, I can surely say the majority of them keeps you entertained for the whole flight duration. You can do nothing about how bombing a dark factory is less attractive than bombing a huge airbase armed with heavy weapon emplacements. And is the latter attractive itself? Oh, hell yes it is.

I’ve noticed some comments on the game’s difficulty before buying, saying it’s challenging, so I decided my first playthrough would be on normal. Missile damage is tolerable and can easily be mitigated via infinite and 100%-working flares with a small, too small cooldown time. While normal enemies aren’t a threat unless in large numbers, bosses’ difficulty could have been tweaked better - you rarely can land a missile hit on them, no matter the timings, so gunning them down is the only option in many of the fights. This, unfortunately, makes boss fights not that enticing and romantic - your odds primarily depend on your gun mastery and capabilities. The gun is overpowered in Project Wingman though, so you’re rewarded well.

Also, I’ve only crashed once throughout the campaign, not deep enough into the mission to test out the lack of checkpoints, but if it’s the case - why, some missions absolutely require at least one, when there is an interesting risky activity ahead, otherwise players will just play safe all the time, not risking losing their aircraft over diving inside a protected facility to destroy a hidden target there.

Ammo counts are a bit out of balance too. While you quickly run out of bombs (which are quite underpowered in terms of splash damage radius, it’s simply preferable to launch a missile instead) you rarely waste all gun pod or semi-active missile shots. However, the ability to put multiple special weapon types on your craft is overwhelming at first and surely keeps you going. Not even mentioning the late-game weapons themselves and my episode of “ah, so RG is the railgun, I wonder if it’ll damage the airship like th- oh, it’s charg- OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS GAME”.

Plot-wise Project Wingman is not trying to jump ahead of itself. I personally get the international version of Ace Combat 3 vibes from it - there are major factions and they fight, that’s why you’re here. The plot is decent enough to motivate you to continue unfolding it, but gameplay is the much stronger part of this game. For sure the main rival there is nowhere near as good and developed as in Ace Combat 7. But the story’s okay, it unleashes all this hell of a beauty (and beauty of hell) around you throughout the campaign. However, it’s like a secretive part of it has not been unfolded in the end, this is what many people call “unfinished" in the reviews I guess.

Graphics. The graphics are gorgeous. While TrueSky clouds don’t really look as good as they did in Ace Combat 7, the atmospheric colorful scenery around sure is a welcome sight, even on medium graphics. The graphic design is very good. There isn’t much else to say.

Soundtrack is nice. It’s, like, really nice. Of course, Ace Combat series are praised for the high-quality themes, objectively better ones, while Project Wingman simply offers you neat ambient background tunes, sometimes even thrilling ones (mission 11 is as great as mission 10 in Ace Combat Zero, giving the same drive as in the good old days and definitely not without the help of its soundtrack).

I’ve used a generic gamepad for the controls, gamepad is your best choice for an arcade aircraft shooter. The controls are customizable, even the sensitivity curves are and this is a major advantage compared to AC7.

Conquest Mode. I’m not a big fan of roguelikes or roguelites, but I sure will test this thing out. I might be asking too much but I’ve been expecting missions with large living battlefields, where you patronize your troops to progress. Here, you just buy allied units to aid you and start over as soon as you accidentally ram a shot-down bomber. It’s my personal preference but I think I’ll enjoy replaying the campaign more.

As a side note, a 25% sell cost penalty for the planes is something that I’d consider a downside, it forces players not to experiment with different crafts on their first playthroughs, knowing that they either get stuck with lower-specs or lose money when selling after testing them out and aiming for the better ones.

There, I’ve compared the game to Ace Combat a lot and pointed out some of the game’s problems. It must look like “why were you telling us it’s better than AC then?”.
Because it is, it’s a perfect example of sheer fun that here you get from taking targets one by one, even (and especially) with the overpowered arsenal of the prototype planes. Project Wingman merges high-quality design and technical fidelity with engaging gameplay. It overlaps the majority of its downsides just by the pure flow of entertainment it develops.

And now, after completing this game (though I’m definitely not done with it, it’s too much fun to be over in just a single playthrough), I can’t even imagine it’s made by a core team of three people. I mean, THREE. Just three passionate people making such a beautiful game is something to be considered. I mean, it’s even over twice as cheap and takes four times less storage space than Ace Combat 7.

With this in mind, I can confidently rate this game 8.5/10. It’s a must-buy for all fans of Ace Combat series. New to the genre? Watch AC7 mission 2 playthrough, so you don’t get any spoilers for both games and see the gameplay for yourself. Think you could enjoy this type of play? Definitely try Project Wingman out.

Made by the fans of Ace Combat, for the fans of Ace Combat. And if you’d ask if it’s as good as Ace Combat, I’d say no - it’s even better. TL;DR: Perfect for the fans, great on its own. [b]Gameplay-wise[/b], it’s the same aircraft shooter gameplay fans of AC have cherished for two and a half decades. I’d like to have more thoughts in this section but I simply can’t. Project Wingman took everything best from this genre and multiplied it by the plot freedom - it’s not like you shoot down the whole world around you but are still a part of a story larger than you, you are praised for your achievements appropriately. And while some levels leave much to be desired in terms of retention, I can surely say the majority of them keeps you entertained for the whole flight duration. You can do nothing about how bombing a dark factory is less attractive than bombing a huge airbase armed with heavy weapon emplacements. And is the latter attractive itself? Oh, hell yes it is. I’ve noticed some comments on the game’s [b]difficulty[/b] before buying, saying it’s challenging, so I decided my first playthrough would be on normal. Missile damage is tolerable and can easily be mitigated via infinite and 100%-working flares with a small, too small cooldown time. While normal enemies aren’t a threat unless in large numbers, bosses’ difficulty could have been tweaked better - you rarely can land a missile hit on them, no matter the timings, so gunning them down is the only option in many of the fights. This, unfortunately, makes boss fights not that enticing and romantic - your odds primarily depend on your gun mastery and capabilities. The gun is overpowered in Project Wingman though, so you’re rewarded well. Also, I’ve only crashed once throughout the campaign, not deep enough into the mission to test out the lack of checkpoints, but if it’s the case - why, some missions absolutely require at least one, when there is an interesting risky activity ahead, otherwise players will just play safe all the time, not risking losing their aircraft over diving inside a protected facility to destroy a hidden target there. Ammo counts are a bit out of balance too. While you quickly run out of bombs (which are quite underpowered in terms of splash damage radius, it’s simply preferable to launch a missile instead) you rarely waste all gun pod or semi-active missile shots. However, the ability to put multiple special weapon types on your craft is overwhelming at first and surely keeps you going. Not even mentioning the late-game weapons themselves and my episode of “ah, so RG is the railgun, I wonder if it’ll damage the airship like th- oh, it’s charg- OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS GAME”. [b]Plot-wise[/b] Project Wingman is not trying to jump ahead of itself. I personally get the international version of Ace Combat 3 vibes from it - there are major factions and they fight, that’s why you’re here. The plot is decent enough to motivate you to continue unfolding it, but gameplay is the much stronger part of this game. For sure the main rival there is nowhere near as good and developed as in Ace Combat 7. But the story’s okay, it unleashes all this hell of a beauty (and beauty of hell) around you throughout the campaign. However, it’s like a secretive part of it has not been unfolded in the end, this is what many people call “unfinished" in the reviews I guess. [b]Graphics[/b]. The graphics are gorgeous. While TrueSky clouds don’t really look as good as they did in Ace Combat 7, the atmospheric colorful scenery around sure is a welcome sight, even on medium graphics. The graphic design is very good. There isn’t much else to say. [b]Soundtrack[/b] is nice. It’s, like, really nice. Of course, Ace Combat series are praised for the high-quality themes, objectively better ones, while Project Wingman simply offers you neat ambient background tunes, sometimes even thrilling ones (mission 11 is as great as mission 10 in Ace Combat Zero, giving the same drive as in the good old days and definitely not without the help of its soundtrack). I’ve used a generic gamepad for the [b]controls[/b], gamepad is your best choice for an arcade aircraft shooter. The controls are customizable, even the sensitivity curves are and this is a major advantage compared to AC7. [b]Conquest Mode[/b]. I’m not a big fan of roguelikes or roguelites, but I sure will test this thing out. I might be asking too much but I’ve been expecting missions with large living battlefields, where you patronize your troops to progress. Here, you just buy allied units to aid you and start over as soon as you accidentally ram a shot-down bomber. It’s my personal preference but I think I’ll enjoy replaying the campaign more. As a side note, a 25% sell cost penalty for the planes is something that I’d consider a downside, it forces players not to experiment with different crafts on their first playthroughs, knowing that they either get stuck with lower-specs or lose money when selling after testing them out and aiming for the better ones. There, I’ve compared the game to Ace Combat a lot and pointed out some of the game’s problems. It must look like “why were you telling us it’s better than AC then?”. Because [b]it is[/b], it’s a perfect example of sheer fun that here you get from taking targets one by one, even (and especially) with the overpowered arsenal of the prototype planes. Project Wingman merges high-quality design and technical fidelity with engaging gameplay. It overlaps the majority of its downsides just by the pure flow of entertainment it develops. And now, after completing this game (though I’m definitely not done with it, it’s too much fun to be over in just a single playthrough), I can’t even imagine it’s made by a core team of [b]three[/b] people. I mean, THREE. Just three passionate people making such a beautiful game is something to be considered. I mean, it’s even over twice as cheap and takes four times less storage space than Ace Combat 7. With this in mind, I can confidently rate this game [b]8.5/10[/b]. It’s a must-buy for all fans of Ace Combat series. New to the genre? Watch AC7 mission 2 playthrough, so you don’t get any spoilers for both games and see the gameplay for yourself. Think you could enjoy this type of play? Definitely try Project Wingman out.