The virtual world is fictitious because it is ours, but its history is different. Only the omens are familiar, of course, because when the Cascadian Republic on the west coast of North America breaks away from the Pacific Federation, it triggers an armed conflict that the newly declared independent country can't endure alone. Cascadia, therefore, hires mercenaries to increase its military strength, including Monarch, whose role you take on here.
Also in the game are his or her comrades-in-arms, whose radio transmissions and briefings follow the events of the 20 or so missions. Don't expect a cool staged Top Gun! Voices without faces are all that Project Wingman has to offer in terms of narration, and this is especially noticeable where the mute alter ego appears like a ghost without a character and isn't even visible in the profile picture.
Doesn't matter. Who needs a plot when it comes to handling jet fighters? And it feels damn good! Of course, it has nothing to do with a simulation. Simple acceleration is enough to take off, redout and blackout play no role even when flying tight turns, and all displays, as well as feedback, are displayed in a highly simplified way. With over 150 missiles on board, the jets are also better equipped than some capital ships.
And in parts, this simplicity is quite regrettable. The fact that you should at least keep an eye on your blood pressure now and then would be a successful addition, for example, while the HUD, as well as acoustic feedback, could point out dangers more clearly. Apart from that, you can't always distinguish marked targets from other displays quickly enough, and switching through all enemy objects in an approximate line of sight is far too inaccurate as the only manual target selection. If you are sitting in the cockpit with a VR headset, you can hardly tell if your nose is pointing towards the ground or the sky when flying through clouds. Vertical markers at the edges of the contour lines could change that, but they are missing.
Project Wingman hits the bull's eye when it comes to the flying itself: You swing the fighters from side to side with finesse, string together loops - and still feel like you're in a real aircraft. The basic physics work so well that you feel like an ace pilot while you take down rows of enemies from the sky. Most of the time you make simple circles, but especially on higher difficulty levels you also use complex maneuvers to use missiles as efficiently as possible and to aim the machine gun at an attacker at the right moment.
Conclusion
In terms of content, Project Wingman only does what is necessary: In small areas, you constantly shoot at the same enemies, miss even rudimentary tactical options, and have to laboriously adjust the joystick to the game because the corresponding presets are missing. The awkward target selection and not always well recognizable HUD displays also make it quite clear that this is a manageable indie project.
