Project Wingman

After really enjoying my first taste of jet games with Ace Combat 7, I took a long break before deciding it was finally time to try Project Wingman to satisfy a sudden urge for some dogfighting. I was honestly surprised by how immersed and occasionally frustrated I got, but overall I had a great time with it. To be real, I went in only knowing four things about the game: there is a conflict, a character named Prez, an antagonist named Crimson 1, and an amazing soundtrack. I mostly zoned out during the story campaign, as all I really cared about was flying and shooting with some awesome jets. The game offers great variety, and I appreciated being able to equip multiple missile combinations on a single jet, unlike Ace Combat's more restrictive weapon slots. The flying felt smooth and the action was exciting, though my main issue was the lack of a checkpoint system. Most of my deaths came from overusing the AOA limiter and failing to check my altitude gauge, so that was definitely on me. Once I cleaned up my flying habits, though, it was smooth sailing. Project Wingman is a fantastic way to scratch that Ace Combat itch. I've heard the Frontline 59 campaign is great too, but I haven't had a chance to play it yet.

I would like to preface this by saying that if you do plan on achievement hunting in this game, you absolutely must forgo getting Frontline 59 until you have all the other achievements. I say this because it is possible that the DLC tampers with achievements, and ends up making it impossible to get the difficulty achievements for the campaign. I will try to keep this spoiler free but, nine times out of ten, you have already seen Max0r's, or another YouTuber's review of this game several times over. With that out of the way, I highly recommend this game. It is worthy of being a spiritual successor to Ace Combat despite the amount of shortcomings it has: dialogue not matching with subtitles, voice acting being shoddy in some places, and in my experience, my guns and missiles refusing to fire, which causes me to pause and unpause the game in order to get it working again. There is also the fact of little character development to your wingmen and even your WSO, Prez, has just a couple of lines and is really a blank slate. The only defining factor about Prez is that she is the only one capable of handling the amount of G Forces you pull on a secondly basis. The game was also promised bug fixes and more planes to be added to the roster but, we have yet to see that happen. In terms of the story, it is very basic, not that there is anything wrong with being basic. You are a Mercenary, TAC-Name "Monarch" who is under the Sicario Mercenary banner and fighting in a war. The war is entirely defined by air superiority, for which there is none better than you, besides one opposing force: Crimson Squadron of the Federation Peacekeepers, but more specifically, Crimson 1. Crimson 1 is by all means a joke antagonist, but even in being a joke antagonist, he is still a proper antagonist that is only fueled by two things: spite and hatred. I do not think that there is a better rival character I have encountered in video games in a long while, besides DMC3's Vergil. The way that this game handles difficulty is better than most games that handle it. Sure, some enemies become tankier, but the amount of damage that they do is still the same. On top of that, enemies are also upgraded accordingly based on the difficulty. An example being that going from Hard difficulty to Mercenary Difficulty, you might end up fighting an additional set of enemies during a boss fight. Those same enemies, will also use the AOA Limiter a lot to dodge your missiles. But there is no better enemy than haste in this game. Take your time and pace yourself, and eventually you will win. I have also played this campaign on Hard and Mercenary Difficulty, only using the F-D/14 (F-14 Tomcat) fighter, because I feel that it is the canonical choice of aircraft for Monarch, and also to hear Prez whenever I am in a mission. On both campaigns I have beaten them using just the Tomcat, and I had also first tried Crimson 1 on Mercenary Difficulty using the Tomcat as well. One of my most proud moments in this game, is realizing that I do not know what the key binding is for the Flares/AOA Limiter, so I beat this entire game and Conquest mode on Mercenary Difficulty, without ever learning how to use Flares or the AOA Limiter. Speaking on Conquest mode, it is a roguelite... roguelike(?) game mode where you fight over Cascadian Territories against the Federation, until you either win or die and have to restart. Planes can be purchased with prestige that carries over regardless of whether you succeed or fail, and allied fighters and airships are purchased with credits and cordium engines, which the airships can also subsequently be upgraded with said cordium engines. Frontline 59's Campaign is also a really good one, that shows the Federation's side of the war. Regrettably, there is cut content of Frontline 59 in which the takeoff sequences has your Flight conversing with one another, building character depth and seeing things from a reservist's perspective compared to those of the active side (like the other Federation, Cascadian, and Mercenary Pilots). There is also a super fun mission sequence that I will not spoil, on top of everything else with the campaigns, and wait for you to experience. I rate this game a solid 9.5/10. Definitely play it.

Game definitely deserves its praise, combat is exceptionally fun and is paired with a well written story. Project Wingman is a strong contender for top 5 best singleplayer games i've ever played, so If you like jets, don't miss out on this one.

没有存档点 万年不修的语言bug和机翻中文 我承认你的攻角机动玩起来比AC爽 但是你佣兵难度堆怪某些关卡是不是有点不像人类了 本来关卡时长就长一到佣兵难度对面的空优机都追着你三连发 不用轮椅机体一把下来就长达半小时 要是不小心死了还得重头打 真牛逼👍

Fun game. Works with HOTAS and Track IR which is neat.

AC8正式日已定，手痒又回来重温了一遍59前线，真爽真癫啊！PW的世界观设定挖了这么多坑，真的很想知道后续，希望能有生之年见到PW的后续吧

I might be in the minority as a 3rd-person view + Keyboard with no Mouse Aim player, but when it comes to arcade flight sims on PC, this game does quite a lot different to Ace Combat 7 that I find more fun: - Keyboard input sensitivity is significantly lower & easier to control - Freelook on mouse without needing to hold down a button - 3rd person camera is further back so you have greater situational awareness instead of half the screen being the plane - Standard enemies are more willing to get into turn circle dogfights with you - Plane physics feel impactful, making handling differences highly prominent - No extremely short mission objective timers - Missile behaviour is more arcadey like old Ace Combat titles - Gun aiming is not guesswork and guns are satisfying to use without modding - More gunpod types: Rapid/Heavy/Canister as well as standard Medium - Visuals and sound effects are more arcadey, befitting an arcadey flight sim - Multiple special weapon types at once This was more than enough to tide me over the lack of checkpoints and somewhat repetitive mission objectives in this game. You can really feel that AC7 is a controller game with keyboard+mouse shoveled in, Project Wingman actually feels like it built with PC in mind. You won't get as many advanced manuevers as AC7 in this game, but the average Keyboard+Mouse player has difficulty using those to begin with due to the controls. Some bugs were encountered even 6 years after release, but nothing game breaking. Campaign completed on the highest Mercenary difficulty