In the late 2000s the First Person Shooter genre had an explosion in popularity, mainly due to the success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Its sequels would continue this trend for many years, mostly due to its extremely addictive online play. As the years went on the modern war setting became the new default, and the previous shooters mostly set in WW2 became an afterthought. But in 2016 Battlefield 1 was announced, and was to be set during WW1, something which was rare in the video games industry. For most part WW2 shooters were an easy game to set up, Nazis are bad, and you’re fighting the good war against them. On top of that WW2 was extremely diverse and expansive than that of WW1, there were more guns, tanks, battleships, airplanes and doctrines of battle, whereas WW1 was commonly seen as trench warfare. However Battlefield 1 was hugely successful, and still remains one of the most played Battlefield games out there, often matching (and sometimes surpassing) that of the most recent release that is Battlefield 2042. But why bring all this up? BF1 really did kickstart a renewed interest in World War shooters, with Call of Duty trying WW2 and Battlefield V also returning to the classic WW2 setting also. Verdun, a WW1 online game also got a bit of a boost and still has a very small following today, and now we have Isonzo, an online WW1 shooter based on the battles of the same name.
Isonzo is a Multiplayer First Person Shooter set during WW1 with a focus on the Italian vs Austrian-Hungarian side of the war. Italy are with the allies, while Austria-Hungary are with the central powers. For most part the game follows your standard FPS conventions with universal aspects such as aiming down sights, different classes and different equipment. Isonzo does add a bit more realism to the formula by adding extra classes like Officer and Engineer who act as the head of the squad and can activate special abilities, something that similar games such as Hell Let Lose have done before. Isonzo has a much bigger concentration on team play and following orders, with more in depth commands and controls that you rarely see in regular FPS Multiplayer games. One thing I noticed earlier on was there were different lines and paths of attack drawn onto the map, giving you an indication of where to hold a front, or breakthrough. I appreciate this extra attention as it gives clear indications of what to do, whereas some other games would simple be “Attack point C”. The realism also goes into the weapon / equipment selection too. For most part I played as a rifleman, as it would be the most common type of infantry during the war. Rifles are slow to aim, but powerful, normally killing enemies in one shot. One aspect I did greatly appreciate is you are unable to reload certain rifles until the cartridge is depleted, something I have only seen in one other game, it’s a small feature, but it adds to the experience. Other ranks include Assault, Mountaineer and Scout, all with their own distinct abilities that if used correctly within their roles and within a team can make a major difference to the outcome of the battle. There are some other minor touches to the gameplay too, such as needing to bandage up if hurt, but also been able to bandage up any other player that is also hurt. Toxic gas is also present within Isonzo, but unlike Battlefield 1 which disperses pretty quickly, the gas stops around for some time, forcing you to don a gas mask making it more awkward to traverse the terrain around you.
Maps are decently varied from mountainous terrain, green forest and rocky bunkers. There is a decent bit of variety and you can see a lot of effort has gone into making these maps fitting for its more realistic setting. trenches will be lined up with barbed wire, bunkers will sit atop objectives and farmhouses act as good half way points to capture. Graphically the game is nothing special, it looks fine for what it is but it really isn’t something you’ll be in awe of. Sound design wise is a different story though, as the echos of bullets, explosions booming through the speakers and the unsettling screams of soldiers resonant eerily as you make your way through the battlefield. I cannot stress the screams of soldiers though as at times they will go on for a bit, more so than any other game I’ve played, but this was the reality of war. With the mechanics, classes and realism it’s obvious that the developers wanted to create something that fell between something fast paced and action orientated, whilst also trying to make it as realistic as possible without sacrificing too much fun. It’s a good compromise between Battlefield 1, which was a very action filled game, and Hell Let Loose which was very heavy on the realism side which at times was detrimental to the experience. Isonzo does a great job of sitting in between the 2, but it’s not without its flaws.
Like many smaller developer games of this type the game suffers from a general jankyness to it all. The game feels awkward and slow to control at times, doing basic actions at times can feel sluggish like jumping up walls and especially aiming down sights. Some could argue that it does add some sort of realism as it adds a nerf to your play style as you would in reality from being in a chaotic warzone – Similar to how the controls were in Resident Evil 1 were awkward but added that extra horror because it wasn’t so easy to get away. The sluggishness isn’t limited to the general feel of the player but the battles can rage on for some time with little change, this is great for some people who love the back and forth, but it does slow things down to a halt at times. There could be some criticisms made to the limited teams as only Italy and Austria-Hungary are available to play as but honestly I prefer this more concentrated approach on a limited number of battles, instead of a whole universal array of battles in the World Wars.
As some one who is heavily interested in history I welcome these types of games that bring up the lesser known parts of history and warfare as a whole. In fact during loading screens the games gives facts and information about the battle at hand or overall facts about the battles of Isonzo as a whole. The attention to historical detail definitely ties into the more realistic approach they were going for and I’d love to see more of this type of stuff. That been said the general sluggish of gameplay for a more realistic feel can be detrimental to the experience but once I got into the game that did become less of an issue. There are better World War shooters out there but Isonzo is definitely on the right track, with some refinements this could prove to be a strong contender in what is becoming a pretty weak market for World War shooters.
