The diminutive duke of disaster dishes on danger in the Dolomites ~

Lloyd Sabin, 5 February 2018

And it does so in an exciting, all-too-short War Story mini-campaign that I really enjoyed.

Never, not once, have I seen the Italian front (Isonzo, Caporetto, etc.) of the First World War portrayed in a PC game – whether it be in a tactical, strategic or first person shooter. Battlefield 1 may be ridiculous (and fun) in many ways, but it does portray the war between Italy and Austria-Hungary, from the Italian side.

And it does so in an exciting, all-too-short War Story mini-campaign that I really enjoyed. The back story is simple – two Italian brothers are deployed to the mountainous front: one is captured by the Austrians, and one is an Arditi commando. You don’t need me to spell out the rest.

And ‘the rest’ is done with solid attention to detail with loads of Italian weapons available. There is even a dramatic appearance of Italian Caproni heavy bombers! Clearly I loved this Battlefield 1 War Story, except for the fact that is was only about an hour or so long. If only more of these mini-campaigns would be made for single player fans. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to happen. So in lieu of that, enjoy the below screen shots of what may be my favorite bout of recent World War I gaming.

Some background info on this very much neglected front.

Pretty basic intro to the story but it didn’t matter to me. I loved what came next.

Heavy (iron?) armor and a massive heavy machine gun. Difficult to not enjoy portraying this guy!

This Austrian held church is your first objective. The view is through the visor of your heavy helmet. The armor here is almost like a Fallout 4 suit of powered armor.

Once the church is taken, your squad moves on to a trench assault with just enough detail to have you stare and wonder how troops ever fought like this in real life and ever had a chance of survival.

Gotha bombers! As well as a swarm of other German aircraft. Trouble for you and your men, to say the least.​

When you see a giant Gotha in front of you as an Italian assault trooper, what else can you possibly do besides blow it the hell up? Nothing.

This nightmare view is the mountain fortress you have to assault to find your captured brother.​

This is it​ – infiltrate the mountain fortress and find your brother. Easier said than done.

Here’s a subtle final shot that doesn’t give too much away. I wish this War Story was longer but it must have taken a lot of resources just to put together what already exists – it is well done.

That’s it for this week, thanks for reading!​

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