Brush off those history books, because it’s time to travel back to war-torn Europe in Isonzo: Italian Front. Prepare to storm the battlefield in your role of choice or ready your defenses for the oncoming onslaught of rifle fire. Learn some history about the locations and battlegrounds of the Great War, and the real-world weapons soldiers used to defend their country. The bugle has sounded troops: it is time to go to war.
The first thing you will be struck by when you load up Isonzo is the overwhelming sense of over a hundred years of history pressing down on you. Recreating the Great War is no easy feat, and while this title certainly isn’t perfect, it truly forces you to consider what the conditions were like for the soldiers who died fighting for their countries. Whether it’s the little stories that accompany the match loading screen, informing you of the fighting that occurred in that particular setting, or even the brilliant weapon descriptions that flesh out every gun, rifle, and even spade, it’s an immersive experience, that’s for sure.
In addition, the lengths Blackmill Games go, to nail that fighting experience is greatly appreciated. The slow painful push of creeping up the hills and crawling through the trenches to gain an inch of ground upon your enemies is very entertaining. The game wants you to keep low, and use the terrain to your advantage. Sprinting across the open fields and into enemy territory is a death sentence without a doubt. Teamwork, tactics and battle strategy are your friends here. Flank your opponents, call in airstrikes or tactical smokescreens and flush those troops out of hiding so you can pick them off one by one.
Of course, all this might not be immediately obvious. One thing Isonzo could do is to have a more integrated tutorial that teaches you about working together and utilizing the different combat roles. Usually, I’m not too bothered about tutorials, but in this case, I think it would certainly help. Upon loading the game, you’re plopped onto a big title screen with a few options. It doesn’t ease you into the experience. But then again, if you’ve ever played an FPS title, one could assume most people already know what to expect.
Another thing, that would have been a useful inclusion, is the addition of a story mode that takes you through the events of the Italian Front, one battle at a time. Learning that story from 1914-1918 would lend a lot of context to the fighting, and make the experience more meaningful. Not everyone cares about the story here, but I think when recreating something of such historical magnitude, this is pretty vital. Moreover, practicing against the computer is something that would prepare less experienced players for the real, more intense battles that begin in multiplayer. Getting spawn-camped by a sniper on a ridge who knows every possible spawn location isn’t exactly immersive.
That said, the maps that are included are great and surprisingly expansive. Whether it’s towering snow-capped mountains, riddled with twisting, confusing ice caves, or flaming pock-marked fields littered with the blasted rubble of demolished houses, the visual storytelling is wonderful here. Barbed wire snakes across the vistas and dramatic terrains can be your salvation or your demise. While the graphical quality and textures might not blow you away, it’s certainly nothing to be sniffed at. The key here is the realism of the locations and the weapons. That’s what sells this experience.
This isn’t to say that Isonzo is without flaws. For starters, many games can be extremely one-sided, leading to a frustrating experience, especially when you’ve just started. I can see certain players leaving early in the experience due to this steep learning curve. The path to unlock all the weapons is also a little bit of a grind, with the starting selection of weapons being pretty lackluster. This lack of variation leads the classes to feel a little…samey.
And while I appreciate the attention to detail regarding reloading and the firing rate of weapons, it can feel painfully slow at times, (especially when you accidentally cancel your reload twice in a row and subsequently get snuck up on and bludgeoned to death.) Bullets here are lethal… I mean that’s obvious, but I really mean lethal. One bullet from a rifle is instant death. One well-placed bullet from a handgun, bye-bye. And while I again appreciate the realism, it can be brutally punishing at times, when you get sniped from someone you can’t see, (there’s no kill-cam.)
But petty complaints aside, Isonzo is a rather well-rounded experience. If you can gather a little team, and form a squad, then that’s the way to go here. You’re in for a treat. If you’re playing alone, it’ll be tough, but you’ll still have a good time. Immerse yourself in history, imagine the actual people who went through the grueling trials of combat, and the experience will be more meaningful. Whether it’s the vibrant landscapes or swelling soundtrack, Isonzo has a little bit for everyone. It can comfortably take its place as a real contender in the historical FPS genre.
