Project Wingman: Frontline 59 – A Review and Reflection on the Campaign Expansion (2025)

“There is a set of advantages that have to do with material resources, and there is a set that have to do with the absence of material resources – and the reason underdogs win as often as they do is that the latter is sometimes every bit the equal of the former.” –Malcolm Gladwell

During the Cascadian War of Independence, Cascadian forces begin gaining momentum and push into the Magadan area of Siberia under the command of General Faust. The size of this invasion forces the Federation to activate the reservist squadron, K-9. Despite being meant as a stopgap measure, K-9 becomes instrumental in helping Federation forces to safely retreat, and a few weeks later, K-9 are deployed to harass the invading Cascadians. While outnumbered and outmatched, K-9 still helps to slow a landing force down. The foothold K-9’s actions help the Federation to achieve leads them to bet everything on a single daring raid on a Cascadian stronghold. This requires flying through a tunnel, and command determines the best way to achieve this is to have a single pilot fly through the tunnel. With the element of surprise achieved, the Cascadian forward operating base is annihilated, and the resulting chaos gives the Federation enough time to organise a counteroffensive. Returning to the coast, K-9 participates in the successful push to dislodge the Cascadians from Magadan. This prompts General Faust to join the fray for herself: she takes her flagship and intends to destroy the largest geothermal plant in Magadan to punish the residents there. After a gruelling fight, K-9 shoot down Faust’s airship and defends Magadan from the loss of a critical resource, but Faust warns the Federation that calamity still awaits the world. This is Project Wingman: Frontline 59, an expansion campaign that was originally added to the PlayStation version of Project Wingman. Although met with overwhelmingly negative reception from the community for being a console exclusive, Sector D2 would release the Frontline 59 expansion for all PC players earlier this year to celebrate Project Wingman‘s fourth anniversary. Compared to the base campaign, Frontline 59 introduces several new mechanics over six new missions, but otherwise precludes players from unlocking new aircraft or utilising existing aircraft from their inventory. Despite being unable to bring the PW-Mk. I or other hard-earned aircraft with them, Frontline 59‘s game design actually increases one’s immersion in the game, and in turn, Frontline 59 ends up greatly expands the Project Wingman‘s storytelling because of its narrative decision to focus on the Federation.

In most games, the story tends to focus around one faction or individual, and this creates a very distinct impression of who the good guys and bad guys are. In choosing to portray the Federation, the antagonists in Project Wingman‘s main campaign, Frontline 59 gives players the sense that there are human stories on both sides of the war. Humanising both the Federation and Cascadians, then, acts as yet another reminder of how conflict strips combatants and factions of their humanity. While this much is known to those with a functional moral compass, what makes Project Wingman and Frontline 59 unique is how the game manages to achieve this. In most games, storytelling is done through cutscenes and willful storytelling to convey the theme. However, being an arcade flight combat game developed by an Indie Studio, Project Wingman does not have a world-changing narrative or high-budget cutscenes. What Project Wingman has is remarkable voice acting and skillful use of in-game dialogue to build the world. As such, to see Project Wingman paint such a rich picture of their world was already an impressive achievement. However, by simply changing the perspective, even without all of the storytelling elements games with larger budgets employ, Frontline 59 is able to add considerably to the themes of Project Wingman simply by changing the perspective. This is an example of emergent behaviours in storytelling: it is thought that games necessarily need to be built around a story in order to say anything meaningful, but Frontline 59 proves that even through just gameplay, it is possible to compel players to consider different sides of a conflict simply by having them listen to the stories of the Federation pilots and armed forces. Similarly, by denying players a large selection of aircraft, Frontline 59 also reminds players they’re now a part of the K-9, a reservist group with limited resources, but whose increasing renown slowly gives them access to better planes. In this way, the Frontline 59 expansion indicates that even in the absence of a large writing department, good gameplay alone can be effective in telling a story and conveying themes: one needn’t bring on board dubious narrative consultants to have meaningful, engaging storylines.

Compared to Project Wingman, Frontline 59‘s campaign sees a spike in difficulty as a combination of two new factors. The first is that players cannot bring their existing arsenal of aircraft into the expansion. Veteran players will have undoubtedly have built up an impressive collection of aircraft and gained familiarity with a number of them, especially the prototype aircraft, which feature highly unique abilities or otherwise surpass anything available to standard aircraft in terms of performance. By being forced to make use of a limited selection, players must tread more carefully in missions that are devoid of any checkpoints. This element drives players to adapt to and learn the aircraft available to them, rather than hop into a mission with the game’s most powerful aircraft and trivially blow away anything that moves. Without the PW-Mk. I’s multi-directional burst missiles and railgun, players are no longer able to waltz into a mission and laugh at enemy aces or airships. Instead, it now takes positioning, a modicum of spatial awareness and an understanding of what one’s aircraft can and cannot do to find success. In conjunction with the introduction of new enemy weapons and mission demands, Frontline 59 becomes a thrillingly challenging experience for players. During my first attempt at the tunnel flight, I made it to the exit without any issues, only to get blown out of the sky by careless flying. Subsequent attempts saw me crash continuously in the tunnel, and it wasn’t until I flew more patiently that I completed that mission. Similarly, the final mission represents the culmination of a player’s experiences and throws everything at them: the sheer amount of enemy fire creates a bitterly difficult situation where reduced visibility will punish even the slightest mistake. The combined laser fire and Cordium airburst rounds from General Faust’s airship makes it extremely tricky to spot one’s enemies, and during the final engagement, I found myself dying exclusively from slamming into an airship’s fuselage because I was trying to evade missiles and enemy fire. Thus, this demanded the development of a new tactic: I found that by flying vertically to gain altitude before resuming an attack run, I was able to constantly keep an eye on where all of the enemy airships were, and this allowed me to be successful in the final mission. Altogether, I was extremely pleased when I managed to destroy Faust’s airship, and in this way, while Frontline 59 is short, it was absolutely a worthwhile experience for all Project Wingman fans.

Screenshots and Commentary

It felt a little surreal to be back behind the cockpit of an aircraft inProject Wingman, but with Frontline 59, fans of the series will have a chance to get back into the world ofProject Wingman and experience the Cascadian War of Independence from another standpoint. Previously, players would’ve fought as Monarch, a mercenary working for the Sicario, but here, players step into the shoes of Driver, a reservist who was called up when the Cascadians attempt to invade Magadan. InProject Wingman, I always got the impression that the Cascadians were on the backfoot until Sicario’s actions help them to turn the tide against the Federation, so my guess is that Frontline 59would be set somewhere later in the war.

The last time I wrote aboutProject Wingman, it would’ve been two years ago: I had just finished the game back then and found it thoroughly enjoyable. I never did get around to writing about the Conquest mode, which was an entertaining way of flying and blowing stuff up without the weight of a campaign, and while I did unlock the PW-Mk.I for both the Conquest and Campaign modes, I’ve not showcased that aircraft here at all. The PW-Mk.I is the ultimate plane and sports manoeuvrability far surpassing anything inProject Wingman, as well as weapons that allow it to single-handedly turn the tide of battle – universal burst missiles allow for up to forty-six targets to be hit at once, and the railgun is powerful enough to shoot down airships with one shot.

There is merit in showcasing the more exotic aircraft ofProject Wingman in a later post, but for now, I’ll keep my attention on theFrontline 59. The first mission is a relatively straightforward one that introduces new and returning players alike to air combat. With the engagements being wholly air-to-air, I ended up picking the multi lock-on missiles. A staple of bothProject Wingman andAce Combat, these missiles allow one to track several targets at once, and while they can be easily shaken off, their advantage lies in being able to soften up a squadron of enemy aircraft or disable multiple subsystems on an airship.

Writing about Frontline 59 brings back memories of 2022: two-and-a-half years earlier, I was amidst a move and I remember how I halted my reflections of Project Wingman during March to ensure all of my obligations were tended to first. After settling in, I continued on with the campaign, beating Crimson 1 from my new home office on a new computer. It’s crazy as to how quickly time flies, and truth be told, I hadn’t expected to write aboutProject Wingman again; when I finished the campaign, I imagined myself to replay campaign missions to earn enough credit for the PW-Mk.I and periodically go through the Conquest mode so I could also unlock the PW-Mk.I there, too.

The inclusion of an expansion campaign was therefore a bit of a surprise: after I finishedProject Wingman‘s campaign, I switched my attention to other things, and so, I didn’t even hear news ofFrontline 59and its PlayStation-exclusive launch. While fans were rightly incensed by this move, enough to post negative reviews of the expansionen masse to express their dissatisfaction, Sector D2 was likely forced into some sort of agreement with Sony, and fortunately for players,Frontline 59 would release for PC players back on the first of December.

Upon catching wind of this news, I immediately purchased the expansion without a second thought – Sector D2 is deserving of an at-launch purchase, and the expansion only costs 6.50 CAD, which is quite economical considering what it adds toProject Wingman. Here, I start the second mission, a mission with a large anti-ground component that makes the unguided bombs useful. I found myself enjoying the cloudy, moody weather to provide some of the best atmospherics in the expansion. In fact, the weather parallels the sort of conditions that surrounds Calgary during the winter; we get some very pleasant winter days at this time of year, but when the clouds and snow roll in, one is filled with a desire to linger in the warmth of home.

I remember how as a child, December would be the time of year to go out on snowy days and brave the festive crowds for Christmas shopping. The grey, foggy skies would always remind me ofAce Combat because back in those days, rendering distances in video games were quite limited, and so, when I went out with family to the shopping malls, it felt like I was stepping out to Stier Castle inAce Combat 5‘s Waldreich Mountains. In those days, the malls were festive and, while busy, weren’t uncomfortably so. In the present, however, the crowds have become quite overwhelming, so I’ve taken to finishing the shopping in November. This leaves Decembers less hectic and gives me a bit more time to unwind as the end of the year approaches.

Depending on the person, this time of year will either be very busy and stressful, or very relaxing. While things could always change, Decembers for me are relaxing because I plan things well in advance and try to keep things simple. In this way, the holiday season gives me a chance to take a break the the vigours of the year, and combined with the short, frigid days, it’s actually the perfect time of year to be indoors with a good game. One of my most memorable December gaming experiences came five years earlier, when EA Origin was doing a week-long trial period for a number of games, and among the games I played through wasStar Wars: Republic Commando.

Back then, my second startup was going an extremely rough patch – I was amidst a complete rebuild of our iOS app, but by then, the funds had run dry, and we were set to downsize to a smaller office in a seedier area south of the downtown called the Beltline. Amidst this uncertainty, playingRepublic Commando provided a means of taking my mind off things when I returned home from work, and I remember the game as being engaging enough to be completed within the span of a week.

Back inFrontline 59, I found the second mission gave me no trouble at all: the unguided bombs proved to be an asset, allowing me to eliminate clusters of ground enemies in a single attack run. In bothProject Wingman andAce Combat, the choice of anti-ground missiles or bombs will depend on the nature of the targets. Large numbers of comparatively low-threat ground targets in clusters are ideal for bombs, while tougher targets that can deal serious damage to players means missiles are the better choice. Some planes will only be able to equip bombs, so in those scenarios, one should only use bombs when it’s feasible to do so.

Although players are limited to whatever special armaments a given plane has, these weapons are meant to perform well against specific kinds of targets. Even in missions where one selects weapons that aren’t suited for the task at hand, the standard missiles are more than sufficient, and in this way, one can still come out of an assignment successful without having picked the “right” weapons. For the first two missions inFrontline 59, I elected to go with the F/D-14, an F-14 Tomcat that was made famous byTop Gun. Being a two-seater, I was treated to additional dialogue from WSO “Eye-tee”, a spirited but sometimes foul-mouthed IT professional.

The early missions have the Federation on the backfoot, and as a reservist squadron, it felt that achieving even the little things were of consequence. Even thoughFrontline 59 andProject Wingman aren’t Booker-winning stories, the way radio chatter and dialogue is presented is sufficient to give players a measure of precisely what they’d achieved. At the onset, the reservists are untested novices, so even something as simple as providing air cover for Crimson Squadron and distracting the invading Cascadian forces long enough for Federation forces to safely evacuate an area counts as a win.

While the Federation is pushed on the defensive by the third mission, K-9 is sent to soften up ground targets at a Cascadian forward operating base ahead of a bombing assignment from Federation forces. I’m not sure what my original decision was, but for this mission, I flew an F-15 armed with multi lock-on anti-air missiles and machine gun pods. Gun pods are especially effective in close quarters dogfighting, and I’ve found that the guns inProject Wingman are especially satisfying to use: they sound like real guns, and best of all,Project Wingman has different kinds of guns that mirror real-world cannons mounted on aircraft. The F-15 equips a 20mm Vulcan, a fast-firing weapon that can quickly shred most airframes, but other aircraft come with a GSh-30-2 30mm, which compensates for a slower rate of fire with individually damaging shells.

One thing that I only realised after finishing the mission was that, once all of the priority targets on the ground are destroyed, K-9 is tasked with escorting a squadron of bombers to the target area. I don’t remember this objective, but according to the documentation, if the entire squadron is shot down, the mission will fail. Since this didn’t happen for me, I must’ve played well enough to stave off this particular outcome. Of the six missions inFrontline 59, I finished four on my first try, and two of the more challenging missions required multiple tries not because of their inherent difficulty or because I was constantly shot down, but rather, because I kept crashing into something.

When I started my journey in arcade air combat games with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, my main concern was that on a mouse-and-keyboard setup, I wouldn’t have enough responsiveness to precisely control my plane. In practise, a mouse-and-keyboard is acceptable: one doesn’t need to drop several hundred dollars on a HOTAS setup in order to play flight games, and while a controller may be more intuitive to use for some, even this is not strictly necessary.Assault Horizon‘s controls were passable, if generally stymied by the fact that the game didn’t offer the same degree of freedom as otherAce Combat games, but once I got accustomed toAce Combat 7, I realised that I could control my plane with confidence.

By the third mission,Frontline 59 introduces rail guns, which fill the map with glowing trails of destruction.Project Wingmanstands apart fromAce Combat in that missions can periodically resemble bullet hell games, and when players are threatened with simultaneous lock-ons from surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles, along with flak, anti-air cannon fire, rail guns, HPBC lasers and Cordium blasts, flying can feel quite overwhelming. While one has access to unlimited countermeasures to instantly break all locks, as well as disrupting missiles already in flight, the five second delay means that one must still use their countermeasures carefully.

The combination of using flares and spatial awareness, then, is necessary to survive missions. Even at lower difficulties, however, taking fire is inevitable, and the lack of checkpoints inProject Wingman increases difficulty further – a player must tread more cautiously in the knowledge that making too many mistakes in a level will force one to start from the beginning. This aspect ofProject Wingman has long been counted as unfair, but for my part, I find it a perfectly valid design choice that 1) compels players to exercise more caution and 2) setsProject Wingman apart fromAce Combat.

On the topic ofAce Combat, it’s a shade under six years sinceAce Combat 7 released, and insofar, I’ve not heard of any news surrounding the next title. The only thing that’s known ofAce Combat 8 is that it’s in development, and it will utilise Unreal Engine 5. Beyond this, things like premise and factions are unknown at. this time.My best friend expressed that it would be phenomenal if Ace Combat 8 was set in theAce Combat 3: Electrosphere timeframe. For him, the biggest draw about theElectrosphere period was that it could potentially answer a lingering question he’s had about the game’s outcome, as well as how a future setting would also give Project Aces the creative freedom to design all-new aircraft and spend less on licensing fees whilst reusing real-world aircraft.

A premise built around corporate overreach would also be quite relevant with respect to contemporary topics. I indicated to my friend that something set between Skies Unknown andElectrosphere would also be fun: in showing the “how did we get here?” part, players and fans ofAce Combat lore could gain a stronger understanding of how the circumstances inElectrosphere came about. For my part, I’m a little more open to a wider range of periods and gameplay; in fact, my only real expectation forAce Combat 8 is that it features a finale mission set on New Year’s Eve, as a callback toAce Combat 5 and because there is symbolic value in having players wrap things up before a new year begins.

AlthoughProject Wingman lacked any tunnel missions,Frontline 59 would introduce a tunnel flight in a big way, combiningAce Combat‘s canyon flight with a tunnel twist. At the mission’s onset, if players choose a two-seater, they’ll bring Eye-Tee with them in the WSO seat. The daring nature of the tunnel flight causes Eye-Tee to all but wet herself. All sense of professionalism is lost as Eye-Tee takes on the manner of a Virtual YouTuber: she declares she’ll keep her eyes shut until Driver exits the tunnel. This bit of levity preludes what is a demanding first flight through the tunnel.

There are several branches in the tunnel that can make it difficult to navigate – the key to surviving is to follow the highway viaduct. I’ve actually not gone dow other forks in the tunnel, and for my first flight through, I simply followed my instincts and flew slowly. Compared toAce Combat 7 andAce Combat 5, the tunnel flight ofFrontline 59 is actually a little more demanding, being set in a winding subterranean cave where the Federation has chosen to run a freeway through it. Unlike the smooth, straight tunnels ofAce Combat, there are jutting rock formations and underground lakes players must navigate.

I was actually surprised that I didn’t crash on my first flight through the tunnel, or subsequent attempts, during the more tricky parts. Towards the final quarter of the flight, there’s a small fleet of patrol boats, guarded by HPBC emplacements. When players draw near, the dialogue will indicate the Cascadian’s complete surprise at the Federation’s daring. While destroying these elements aren’t strictly necessary, destroying the advanced anti-air missile launchers will give players peace of mind as they fly out of the tunnel. Leaving the large cavern, players will enter a narrow concrete shaft. This was where I experienced most of my difficulty – getting into this shaft is only possible from certain angles, and missing will cause one to slam into the cave walls.

Similarly, minor fluctuations in altitude makes it extremely easy to collide with the concrete shaft, and there were several instances where I died in this tunnel. Compounding things, missile lock-on warnings will occasionally distract players from the flight. I wasn’t sure if this was a bug, but once it became clear that no missiles were inbound, I chose to focus on getting my aircraft out. For the tunnel mission, I chose to fly the Sk.25U, based on the Su-25 subsonic twin-engine attack aircraft. Capable of carrying the biggest and most varied anti-ground arsenal of any attack aircraft in Project Wingman, I favour the Sk.25U for its remarkable ability in handling ground targets, and the 30 mm cannon is a joy to use. In the walls of the tunnel, low manoeuvrability is a liability, but I chose to run the Sk.25U because of what lies outside the tunnel.

Because the Cascadian’s forward operating base is located here, players will face a veritable armada of anti-air weapons that fill the sky with deadly light. On my first attempt, I was shot down by the sheer volume of firepower directed at me – I had just deployed countermeasures to shake the missiles on me and swerved to dodge a railgun’s glowing round, but almost immediately, I was raked by cannon fire, lasered and hit with two missiles. After this first attempt at the mission failed, it would take me no fewer than six attempts to get through the tunnel. I have a feeling impatience contributed to this outcome – after my first failure, I wanted to just get past the tunnel and back into the firefight, but in doing so, I flew more carelessly.

In the end, however, I got things right, and it was immensely satisfying to whittle away at the large number of targets on the ground below. Even witha priori knowledge, however, this was still a gripping fight. On my first attempt, I’d taken missile damage inside the tunnel, so I wasn’t entering this fight with my hull at full strength. Being able to take one extra missile impact made all of the difference, and in this way, I was able to complete the fourth mission without too much trouble.

The railguns ofProject Wingman are visual spectacles, and here, I fly towards one with the aim of shooting it down, narrowly avoiding the spread of projectiles it directed at me. Using a combination of standard missiles, anti-ground missiles, 30 mm cannon fire and rockets, I was able to make short work of everything. I found the unguided rockets to be a highly satisfying weapon to use: despite only having limited uses and requiring one to be close to their targets in order to maximise damage. From a distance, the rockets have high spread and individually, won’t deal much damage, but if most of the rockets can hit their mark, the consequences are devastating.

I ended up taking the same aircraft and special weapons with me into the penultimate mission, which was another anti-ground operation: while it is tempting to bring all multi lock-on anti-ground missiles and employ a fire-and-forget play-style, I found that it is preferable to have at least two different kinds of special weapons: being able to consistently lay down fire even while weapons are reloading can be the difference between completing a mission and being shot down by hostile fire.

Set in the same region as the second mission, the key difference is that it’s now daytime, and during the course of this mission, it is revealed that General Faust hadn’t invaded Magadan to secure resources for Cascadia, but rather, to deal as much damage to the region as possible to cripple the Federation. Having played a mercenary who sided with the Cascadians to save their homes inProject Wingman, seeing a Cascadian general instigate an incursion into Federation territory purely to inflict punishment was a bit of a game changer for the story, one which led me to spot that the Federation, despite their portrayal inProject Wingman, might not’ve been as evil as one would believe

In fact, with more of the story present, the Cascadian War of Independence is something that I might not wholly support if Project Wingman gave me a choice – while independence movements in the past have been valiant, intended for groups to gain sovereignty over their territory and govern people in a just manner, contemporary independence movements often lack a clear end goal. Allowing those movements to reach completion could have devastating consequences, and indeed, they often do. Thus, independence may not always be a good solution to the problems that people face. Having said this, without additional information about Cascadia and the Federation, it’s difficult to pass judgement one way or the other: the goal ofProject Wingman is to fly awesome aircraft around and blow stuff up.

The grim, orange-brown skies of the penultimate mission remind me of how, since returning home from Japan, I’ve had very few days with good weather. Most days have been overcast and foggy, which has a noticeable dampening on my mood. While the poor weather has left me feeling a little more unhappy and isolated than usual, my appetite and sleep patterns have not changed, and feelings of sadness tend to pass once the sun sets. Longtime readers of this blog will know that winter is my least favourite season of the year, but with tomorrow being Winter Solstice, I take solace in the fact that the days will begin lengthening again. Further to this, keeping busy is the most efficient way of having the days pass quickly. While winter might be a cold and dark season, having a good routine can help ward off the draining effects of frigid, grey days.

I remember as a child, Decembers were the time of year where things would slow down: as Christmas approached, schools would dial back on assignments and workloads, and festive cheer would take over. Excited both about Christmas gifts and the attendant family gatherings, I could barely keep my focus on whatever task was at hand, and the days leading up to Christmas would always seem to pass at a snail’s pace. On the flipside, Christmas tends to sneak up on me nowadays – between the Christmas parties and Chinese Winter Solstice, time flies.

Back inFrontline 59, I’ve dealt enough damage to the Cascadian ground forces, allowing the second phase of the mission to begin. The Cascadian navy appears at this point, and I move to engage them. While I may not have dedicated anti-ship weapons, using the weapons available to me allowed me to make short work of each ship’s subsystems. The key to efficiently dealing with ships is to strafe them and take out their subsystems in one run, and then on a second attack run, one can focus on destroying the ships themselves.

Towards the end of the mission, airships begin appearing. Having geared myself up for anti-ground combat, I lacked any dedicated anti-air special weapons. Airships, flying fortresses bristling with weapons, can only be shot down once all of their subsystems are destroyed, and ordinarily, having multi lock-on missiles would allow one to take out several subsystems at once. However, since the Sk.25U ha access to a heavy cannon, this allows players to take advantage of the aircraft’s stability to strafe targets thoroughly. The 30 mm rounds deal an impressive amount of damage, so one can do decent damage to airships. Having previously engaged airships before, I found them to be just another target for this mission.

This assumption does not hold for the final level inFrontline 59. For this mission, I’ve elected to go with the YF-23, a creative reinterpretation of the F-22 Raptor with design elements inspired by the Chengdu J-20. This is the single most powerful aircraft available inFrontline 59, and until the expansion campaign, I’d never flown it before, having skipped right over to the PW-Mk.I. Because the final mission was expected to be the most difficult, I decided to go with the best plane available with the hope that having better manoeuvrability and speed would give me a fighting chance at whatever the mission had to throw at me.

At first glance, the finale looks underwhelming: while the terrain is impressive, and the skies suggest a melancholy, there’s only a handful of pairs in the sky, and they pose no threat to K-9. The groups are spaced a ways apart, and I found that on approach, it was easy enough to destroy one aircraft with missiles, then switch over to guns and blast the other plane out of the sky. At this point, short, controlled bursts and careful use of missiles is essential: the pairs of enemy aircraft in the sky serve to warm players up, but they’re only the appetiser, so it makes little sense to expend one’s ammunition on these foes.

This is because after the pairs are shot down, General Faust herself will show up in her airship, the CDV Roosevelt. Despite only being slightly larger than the typical airship, the Roosevelt is armed to the teeth with cutting edge weapons, and Faust herself is livid that mere reservists could give her this much trouble. Dialogue reveals Faust’s motivations for mounting the invasion, and the sheer brutality of it all led some fans to count her as being even more unhinged than Captain Matias Torres of theAce Combat 7 expansion. While this has led to a resurgence of Project Wingman versusAce Combat discussions online, I’m just grateful that there’s now two excellent arcade air combat games on the market to experience.

The Roosevelt’s initial assault is laughable: its flak has a low blast radius and are easy enough to evade, and the missiles aren’t anything new to players. However, once its first set of weapons are destroyed, a Cascadian Squadron will enter the fray, and the Roosevelt itself will begin using Cordium weapons that fill the air with menacing explosions. The main challenge about this is that the new Cascadian aircraft are also YF-23s, which boast exceptional mobility and speed. If this weren’t enough, the aircraft themselves appear to be significantly tougher than most aircraft: once I got a bead on one, it took almost a hundred rounds to down one. These aircraft also deploy countermeasures liberally, making it difficult to use missiles on them, but when missiles land, they deal serious damage to the enemy YF-23s.

On my first several attempts, I got distracted by the YF-23 squadrons, and while engaged in ferocious dogfights with them, I would also do my best to avoid flying into the Cordium-fuelled explosions. The downside about having so much to focus on meant I would carelessly slam into the side of an airship, bringing the mission to an end and forcing me to start fresh. This was admittedly frustrating, and after my fifth attempt, I wondered if it was even possible to complete this level. At least one other player found the expansion to be unforgivingly difficult, punishing players for any mistakes. While this is true, and there were a few moments that tried my patience, setbacks and failures also pushed me to look for new ways to approach the mission.

I would find that engaging the occasional supporting aircraft to lessen the number of enemies on my tail, but otherwise focusing on the Roosevelt, would give me the most space to work with. In moments where the fire became too intense to manage, I found that there was a trick to buy myself some breathing room. By flying straight up and gaining some altitude, I could put some distance between myself and the Roosevelt. This would also give me a good bead on where the Roosevelt was. Knowing where the other airships are would allow me to plan my attack accordingly, and in this way, I was able to overcome that particular barrier.

I imagine that other members of K-9 will help to engage the enemy squadrons, so one should be able to focus on hammering the Roosevelt. Once the second set of weapons are destroyed, Faust will be reinforced by a second squadron of prototype Sk.37s, as well as a pair of airships. At this point, the fight against Faust transforms from anAce Combat style engagement into a bullet hell worthy ofTouhou. Even in a game known for its overwhelming air combat moments,Frontline 59 steps things up even further, producing a spectacle of gargantuan proportions, one which demands swift reflexes and a modicum of spatial awareness to safely complete.

I do not say this lightly – once the second set of weapons on the Roosevelt are destroyed, Faust will lose all composure and order the deployment of all remaining Cordium mines, along with HPBC laser on top of missiles and flak. The sheer amount of stuff in the skies would be breathtaking, were it not for the fact that the threat of flying through this would any mistakes will undo all of one’s progress. In this way, the final mission becomes an incredibly gripping fight that pushes player skill to the limits. At this point in my successful run, I elected to ignore the enemy fighters in the sky and focused purely on whittling down the remaining weapons on the Roosevelt.

The visual spectacle here was such that, were this a real photograph, I’d be all too happy to submit it to a competition. The photographs from the real world, while perhaps not quite as lethal-looking, are rather more peaceable, and for the final quarterly in-house photo competition at the local photo club, I placed second in my category with a shot of the Three Sisters by dawn I’d taken a few months earlier. This is the last meeting of the year, and prior to last night’s meeting, I stopped at Milestone’s for a holiday steak after passing through the Christmas festivities and decorated streets of the downtown core. Milestones’ surf-and-turf features a seven ounce sirloin topped with Atlantic lobster, shrimps and scallops in a lobster-butter sauce on a bed of garlic greens, roasted carrots, red onion, roasted mushrooms and Italian tomatoes, with a side of sweet potato croquettes.

A luxurious surf-and-turf dinner proved a pleasant way to round out the year’s photography club meetings, and enjoying a flavourful medium-rare steak downtown after a day at the office is something I’ve always wanted to do. Because we’re now rapidly approaching Christmas itself, the final days of 2024 will see a veritable smörgåsbord of extravagant eats. At this point in time, I’ve only got two more workdays left in the year, and while I spent most of my vacation days for my Japan trip, I still had enough days left over to take Christmas until the New Year’s off. In past years, I’ve had no luck in enjoying the mountains by winter, so this year, the centrepiece to my time off will be a chance to sleep in and build the MGEX Strike Freedom, which I bought back in November.

A store downtown, YYC Gundam, was selling it for 210 CAD – Canadian Gundam has it for 195 CAD prior to shipping, and this comes out to 205 CAD. When I visited YYC Gundam to pick up my friend’s Christmas gift, he remarked that between a lower price from buying online, versus being able to pick the model kit here and now, it was the better choice to go with the latter. This decision, coupled with a then-impending Canada Post strike, prompted me to make the decision: I’d been sleeping on the MGEX Strike Freedom and was wondering if Bandai would release a MG Mighty Strike Freedom, but after considering my options, I decided that the original Strike Freedom fromGundam SEED Destiny had the most personal significance. I am rather looking forwards to this build, which will be the most complex MG I’ve put together since 2012’s MG RX-93 ν Ver. Ka. back in 2012.

Back inFrontline 59, my strategy of gaining altitude to get some breathing room and reassess my situation after each attack run would increase my survivability, and in this way, I was able to slowly whittle away the Roosevelt’s weapons. As the amount of fire directed at me decreased, I knew I was doing something right. Initially, Faust will order her gunners to fire even in light of their protests that their weapons were not optimised for fighter aircraft, bringing to mind the likes of other science fiction works where anti-ship weapons and bombardment weapons are too slow to track fast-movers. In reality, the 16-inch guns on battleships and cruise missiles similarly don’t work against fighters, and ships usually count on anti-air missiles and fast-firing guns to deter aerial attack.

However, firing larger weapons provides a bit of a psychological break: being shot at by any weapon is usually enough to dissuade pilots from pressing on with their attack run. The sheer volume of fire stopped me in a few cases, but not before I got at least a few missiles off. Slowly, but surely, the Roosevelt’s output began dropping, and it appeared as though the worst of the mission was behind me. In between waiting for my special missiles to reload, I pursued a few of the remaining fighters to reduce the number of missiles pointed at me. Observant readers will have noticed that my hull saw repairs during the course of this level: whileProject Wingman does not provide checkpoints, I spotted that there were two points in the mission where my hull integrity miraculously returned to full health despite my taking some damage.

I captalised on this to continue fighting, and here, I prepare for one last run at the Roosevelt to take down the remaining subsystems on its hull. Reflecting the amount of damage the Roosevelt has taken, its engines have begun to smoke here, and the two remaining laser emplacements are powerless to hit me. At this point in time, I completely depleted my stores of special missiles. One of the biggest concern I had in any air combat game, whether it wasAce CombatorProject Wingman, was running out of ammunition. While running out of special ammunition is usually no concern, using up all of one’s standard missiles and guns would mean one is, in effect, left unable to finish a mission.

This has never happened to me before: while missions in both series will see one expend their stores considerably, the games are designed so that players who judiciously manage their weapons should not run out mid-combat, and on lower difficulties,Ace Combat‘s gun has unlimited ammunition, so players can at least continue dogfighting even if their missiles are gone. For me, I still had missiles to spare, and when I saw that all of the subsystems on the Roosevelt were gone, I knew that a few more attack runs stood between me and victory. Crashing into the Roosevelt here would’ve been frustrating beyond words, so I adopted a more conservative play-style, hitting the Roosevelt’s main body with missiles and immediately turning away while waiting for the reload.

It was therefore with immense satisfaction to land the final blow on the Roosevelt, taking it and General Faust out of the skies for good. However, just because the Roosevelt is marked as “destroyed” doesn’t mean it’s harmless – a careless player could still crash into its hull here. I therefore opted to keep my distance whilst listening to Faust’s final words, and shortly after, the Roosevelt explodes in a titanic explosion, bringing my time in Frontline 59 to a close. Despite being short,Frontline 59 was a worthwhile experience to play through, and with this, I finish just in time for the Steam Winter Sale. This year, two games catch my eye:Space Marine 2 andS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobylare both on sale despite being recent releases. FinishingFrontline 59 lets me to focus onSpace Marine 2, which I’ve been excited to play since hearing about it back during the summer.

This final screenshot shows I did, in fact, witness the Roosevelt’s Cordium reactor undergoing detonation to complete the mission: with screenshots, it would be all to easy to simply claim I finished the mission after destroying the Roosevelt, so I figured it’d be appropriate to show the Roosevelt’s ultimate fate. With this post in the books, I have two more major posts planned out for 2024.Komada: A Whiskey Family, and Sora no Method have been two works I’ve finished recently, and both deserve proper reflections. The former is a 2023 film from P.A. Works that deserves a showcase, and rewatching a series from the fall of 2014 has given me new perspective, enough to justify a revisit.

The short length of Frontline 59, and the absence of new aircraft, are things that do not outwardly inspire confidence at first glance – such a showing would be embarrassing for a larger studio like 343 Industries, DICE or Activision. However, the fact that Sector D2 is an indie studio and still able to provide a campaign expansion acts as a reminder that size is no indicator of quality. Despite having a fraction of the team size that 343 Industries have, Sector D2 was able to put out a playable and enjoyable campaign expansion. To put things in perspective, Halo Infinite was originally intended to receive an expansion to its campaign, but the studio ultimately elected to focus on “bringing high-value multiplayer content for players to experience” (read “it’s easier ot add new cosmetics into the game and make easy money from players than it is to tell a good story). Thus, at Project Wingman‘s fourth anniversary (and Ace Combat 7‘s sixth anniversary), Sector D2 continues to demonstrate to their playerbase that they still support their game and care for the players who’ve accompanied them along the journey. Project Wingman had previously been regarded as being one of the few feasible alternatives to Ace Combat, and at present, with no news of Ace Combat 8 available to players, Sector D2 has shown that they’re still in a competitive spot to fill that void. While another campaign expansion in the vein of Frontline 59 would be a little much to ask for, I certainly wouldn’t mind the addition of a few more aircraft to the game, and similarly, a few more maps and customisation options would also be appreciated. With this in mind, even in the absence of new content, that Sector D2 brought what was previously a PlayStation exclusive to PC was much welcomed, and I’m certainly glad to have taken the time to play the expansion: I might be getting up there in the years and have certainly seen dulled reflexes, but I’ve still got enough game left in me to take on an airship far more diabolical than the worst that Crimson 1 could throw at me some two years earlier.