By Fletcher Wilkinson 
WW1 was described as the worst war in human history and for years, we have seen a slow trickle of games trying to depict that era in its entirety with the relatively basic equipment, weaponry and brutal trench warfare.
One said team that has been doing this successfully ever since Verdun is Blackmill Games and they have become known for their WW1 Series.
This time, the team is attempting to take on the brutal Gallipoli Campaign which specifically refers to the Ottoman front which saw some of the most brutal fighting in this global conflict.
Not only are we seeing upgrades to movement, gunplay, classes and so much more but the team has also brought their experience and consulted experts to make it their best game yet.
So is WW1 Gallipoli on Xbox worth delving into or does it falter and get stuck with a god awful case of Trenchfoot, well my name is Fletcher and this is Xbox Nation and lets dive into my review of WW1 Gallipoli.
For the uninitiated, WW1 Gallipoli drops you into 50 player online multiplayer matches in some brutal sand swept fronts of the Ottoman Empire and has you playing as the Allies, that being the British, Australian or Canadians and then you are fighting the mighty Ottoman Empire.
These matches are a massive clash with a lot of frantic fighting and using emplacements to your advantage without the need for any vehicles at all.
This time around, the devs over at Blackmill games have completely changed the game modes that we were faced with in Insonzo and instead of a conquest style objective system, this new game brings in what I can only describe as Rush or Breakthrough in the Battlefield Games.
It pits one team as attackers where they must capture the defenders HQ and either build fortifications or plant bombs to proceed to the next sector. Of course its never easy as the defenders will be protecting this HQ and their Support sector to be able to call in Artillery Strikes, use mounted MGs or Cannons and ultimately push back the waves of incoming infantry.
If you are an attacker, you can also capture this support area and when doing so, you then get access to mortars and MG emplacements which sit directly across from the HQ and this sort of support becomes imperative especially when trying to outmaneuver and conquer a team who may have been rather entrenched on their HQ.
There are a massive amount of improvements this time though when it comes to WW1 Gallipoli especially compared to that of Isonzo and right away, you will notice a big update to the movement which is much more fluid and easy to manoeuvre but still retains the authentic feel without feeling like a bunny hopper or even worse in arcade like shooters on the market.
In terms of the weapons and weapon handling, they are much more deliberate and realistic, while looking rather stunning! You have a cumbersome hunk of steel in your hands, and gun play ultimatelty reflects that. Weapons drag when you turn, your hand wobbles when you try to aim and your arms get tired when aiming for a long time. Reloads are slow and methodical, but are split in many stages so you don’t have to repeat the entire process if interrupted.
I will say it does have a clunkiness that seems to have been apparent in most of Blackmills WW1 Games and although improved it still has issues and some animations can get a bit cumbersome or cause issues. Its not bad and it is improved but it still has some of the jank that was faced in Insonzo.
I do like that there’s now a bigger difference in damage fall-off between weapon types, and bullet drop is a significant factor at each weapon’s maximum effective range. Hit scan is also gone too and there’s now bullet travel time depending on each weapon’s muzzle velocity and ammo type which was sorely missing and now seeing pistols struggle at range compared to high velocity rifles is welcome.
This time around, there are more classes than ever before in Gallipoli and there is now 10 in total, so about 4 more than their previous entry.
The New Classes are the Ammo Bearer who can now carry ammo for teammates, Heavy Machine Gunner, who can now place down MG nests wherever they want on the battlefield (personally that my favourite class), Bomber which is designed specifically for grenades and explosives and Stretcher Bearer which is a more medic focused class who can revive and heal team mates quicker.
These new additions not only expand but change the way the game plays and there is much more teamwork needed and decisions to be made with roles. They do provide a ton of flexibility and when you come across an enemy machine gunner, god its terrifying.
I did find some classes felt a bit more useless like the Rifleman but if you just want to kill enemies with a rifle then it’s fine I guess. I do like the expansion and its a good addition to the game.
Each do have 2 subclasses too which provide perks based on the role. The Heavy Machine Gunner can be a sentry kit which means you cant be spotted and can hold breath longer or you can choose carrier which means faster build time for the MG. Its a risk and reward bit and these subclasses are good and provide more variance.
A very big glaring omission from the game though is that there is no party up system. Yeah absolutely baffling that a multiplayer game has no option to squad up with team mates and im shocked this hasnt been implemented.
At the moment, the only way to play with your team mates is to join the same server and hope you can get into the same team and squad. I mean come on, we are in 2026 without the squad up option. I dont care the size of a team, if you are making a Multiplayer shooter, you need squad up options. It is glaring and I hope the devs fix it.
They did add Crossplay this time with all consoles and PC which is nice but again there is no filter or option for console only games without PC players and vice versa. It would be a good thing to have added without having to turn off crossplay in your console system settings.
I will briefly touch on it but there is an offline mode this time and custom servers which you can set up if you want to play offline. If you dont change any settings and just delve in, your progression does level up which is a nice way to get everything included without being excluded.
However if you change any settings in the custom mode like bot difficulty, tickets, timers and the such, it voids all progression and achievements too. I think its a nice way of balancing it all without people cheesing the progression system and its a trade off that I agree with.
In terms of the bots, they are dumb for the most part and will basically swarm one location without any flanks or any other manoeuvours. They can just line up for easy kills and will go in single file lines. Yeah they are bad. Sometimes though you might find yourself beamed across a map by one. Its very mixed, I think the AI needs a ton of improvement but again, this is an online game really so a singleplayer mode was never what I brought this game for.
In terms of content right out the gate, WW1 Gallipoli will be shipping with 5 maps and each of them are closely based on the real-life locations. It was noted by the devs and I can also confirm, these are not 1:1 recreations and the team have taken some creative liberties for making them fun and balanced but they still do a great job of reflecting the actual locations and the challenges faced by forces during the real war.
Both Anzac Cove and V Beach are incredible maps and two of my favourites as they allow you to experience the beach landings themselves. The British forces start seaborne in boats or the SS River Clyde, and will continue to do so until the beach is secured. And as you might expect, these small boats don’t offer much in terms of cover so be prepared to be mowed down by a lot of machine gun fire but hearing prox chat in those moments iss hilarious.
Honestly I was impressed with the map designs, I hope we get more in the future but judging by the support given to Insonzo, I expect a ton of content coming and its a great starting point for this indie team.
In terms of performance on Console, this is probably what many of you wanted to find out and I have to say, its a very pleasant affair across the board although ther are some improvements needed just to stabilise that frame rate a bit more but its not as bad as other FPS releases recently.
The Xbox Series X outputs at a native 4K resolution although it can dip with some upscaling if needed but for the most part its native. The texture quality is incredible and visually its lovely. I did notice high quality shadows and a good implementation of lighting which for modern day releases is hard to come by.
Frame rate wise, you are looking at a 60fps target but I did notice that it never holds steady and usually drops to about 55fps on a more regular basis. There was some horrid dips during really intense situation with tons of effects, bombing runs and gunfire but it was rare and hopefully it gets patched. Luckily it is solid for the most part.
With the Series S, I was also rather impressed not only by the visual quality but also the frame rate as the 60fps is near enough there but again like the Series X it does suffer from not being consistent and there is noticeable screen tearing from time to time. Its not the worst I have ever seen but it can get rough in more hectic encounters.
The output resolution here is about 1440p with the internal being slightly lower but of course upscaled ever so slightly and honestly, not really that noticeable. The texture quality on the smaller console is good but it does take a very noticeable dip from the Xbox Series X.
Overall its an okay port, it definitely needs some improvement but compared to something like Hell Let Loose Vietnam, this console port is in a good state and something I can be happy with recommending.
The same with the netcode and servers, I had no issues with shot displacement or feeling like I was at a disadvantage, I like that there are servers for specific regions and there was never any spikes or ping issues at all.
Overall, I really enjoyed WW1 Gallipoli and I think the price tag is totally worth it for this WW1 shooter. I do feel it will appeal to the crowd of more intense and authentic shooters but it will have more appeal to casuals compared to hell let loose and thats due to its more intimate infantry focus and intense meatgrinder levels.
It does have some issues with some frame rates and the progression system and content is a little lacking for my own personal tastes but I feel in a years time this game will be fleshed out completely.
The addition of Crossplay negates those lower counts faced in previous titles in this franchise which is good but I do wise the gunplay could be refined more as it still feels a bit clunky.
- Atmospheric maps based closely on real-life locations
- Improved movement, authentic gunplay and expanded classes
- Strong visual quality and solid console performance overall
- No party-up system for playing with friends
- Gunplay, animations and frame rates can feel inconsistent
- Poor offline bot AI and limited launch content
Jordan Campbell
Olivia Davies