Project Wingman: Frontline 59

Project Wingman may well be the most frustrating game I’ve ever unabashedly loved by making me feel like the hotshot pilot I’ve never been, and the only price I have to pay is a little bit of my sanity every time I die and remember that there aren’t any checkpoints.

I think I’ve sunk about 250 hours into Ace Combat 7. Most of that was spent just endlessly replaying the campaign with as many different aircraft as were available. I’m not sure yet if I’m going to play Project Wingman for quite as long, but given how I’ve lost sleep all week just so I could play one more mission, I suspect I might come close.

Overall, Project Wingman is a wonderful flight game. If you’re looking to get your wings, but Flight Sim is way out of your realm, this is the next best thing. The story is forgettable through a lot of the game, but that isn’t the full selling point really. The actual flight and gameplay is the main event. Once you get over the steeper learning curve, the game is honestly a blast to rip around and fly in. Combat lacks some, and honestly, I feel like just a free mode for flying would be a nice addition for the game as a whole. It’s a really good game, and though the overall presentation lacks at times, it redeems itself with gameplay.

The mission design as well as some mechanical weaknesses sometimes kill the mood. But presentation and the dogfights are top-notch – especially in VR.

Project Wingman is an indie aerial combat game that could easily be mistaken for a AAA title. If playing a flight shooter in VR on PC is your dream, look no further. However, with repetitive gameplay and a story that’s difficult to understand, Project Wingman just doesn’t feel exhilarating enough to make it enjoyable for the casual player.

Overall, Project Wingman, or dare I say Ace Combat 8: Oh no not more rockets should absolutely fill the boots of those who have been looking for an arcade aerial combat game. Specifically of the Ace Combat genre.

Outside of VR, Project Wingman really is the Ace Combat spinoff fans have always dreamed of. If you just have a gamepad and want to feel like you’re in Top Gun without needing to learn aerodynamics, you’ll have a lot of fun. In VR it’s still playable with a gamepad, but that ruins the immersion for the most part. Project Wingman is still a good game, but the shaky VR support drags everything down significantly.

Project Wingman in VR is the way that all Ace Combat style games are meant to be played. Every Ace Combat or arcade jet dogfighting game from this point forward needs to ship with full VR support, there's no excuse anymore. Currently one of the best full VR games out there.

This game has me hooked! As a big fan of games like Total Air War, F22 Lighting, Jane's IAF and other flight simulators, Project Wingman is just such a welcome addition to the arcade air combat genre. It greatly improves on Ace Combat, and is much better in writing, graphics and gameplay. It doesn't take itself too seriously and doesn't suffer from the prepubescent and ear-bleeding writing and banter of Ace Combat 7. Fans of the series will greatly appreciate this and fans of simulators like me, will also love this. Our genre is really starved of good games. As a project made by only a two-man team, this game is just marvelous. I especially like how the aircraft are much more detailed and have better styling than in Ace Combat. You can tell that this game was built with passion with so many fine details, down to the camo of the planes to the messy skies with smoke trails and debris everywhere to the way planes fall to the ground while burning. It is also significantly harder than Ace Combat and the missions are more complex, longer and loaded with numerous targets. The missiles perform better and the planes handle much better than in Ace Combat. Project Wingman is not too realistic, but enjoyable on so many levels. The soundtrack is also insanely good. For the low asking price, this game is a true gem of the skies!

NOT A VR GAME!! Only the six VR missions are playable in VR, an important fact that the studio failed to point out, leaving a bad impression. Also low poly in textures and generally uninspired gameplay. Avoid.

The game looks interesting, but for me, it simply does not work. When I try to start the campaign, and get to the plane selection before a mission, my cursor disappears, and the sensitivity skyrockets for some reason, and I just can't even get the mouse to where it needs to go. I tried with gamepad, and same issue with it as well...

The game has a few positive things going for it but it insists on wasting your time by making you start missions from the start rather than having checkpoints. I value my time more than wasting 40 minutes just to have the game tell me the mission was failed at the very last second.