I've been a huge fan of these series since my teenager years back in 2016, and I can confidently say Gallipoli is a HUGE step forward for the WW1 Game Series as a whole: authenticity, historical accuracy, realism and grittiniess is everywhere to be seen in this game.
Matches play mostly similar to those in Isonzo, with an attacker having to conquer and neutralize 2 different objectives to move forward on the next sector. This time one of them is a "Support" objective, giving whoever takes it a position to build mortars and also a team spawn position while the other one, called HQ is the required objective to capture for the attackers if they want to move to the next sector. The attacking team aswell as the defending team are capable of building "Beacons" which are basically spawn positions for the different squads of each team, each one with their own bonuses (for example, the support squad's beacon, apart from being a spawn for the squad, is also a universal first aid post).
Pros:
Fun gameplay with easy to understand mechanics.
Amazing visuals.
The most historically accurate depiction of the Gallipoli campaign in gaming to date.
More polished animations and gunplay (To some the gunplay being harder to master is a downside, but to me it just adds to realism and prevents the game to be filled with tryhards who one shot across the entire map).
The implementation of realistic shell-shock mechanics that make suppression a real trouble for players.
Cons:
Bugs. The game as it is right now is pretty filled with bugs, one, for example, doesn't let you call for off-map support as an officer if you have high ping, which, as an argentine person who is obligated to play on NA servers basically means I will not be able to enjoy the officer class until this is fixed.
Low pop anywhere except the US and Europe. This has been a case since Verdun, and honestly, as a south american, I'm used to the relatively high ping of NA servers at this point, I just guide my shots a little bit forward to where the target is. I don't know about australian servers, but if you're not from Europe or North America then you could deal with some pretty high ping, that, if you can't tolerate, I suggest not even giving this game a try.
Annoying UI. This is a personal take, but I miss the days before Verdun's 2018 update that 'updated' the UI to make it look more accessible, giving the game hitmarkers and colorful icons on the screen that (supposedly) help you out. I mostly find these annoying, and it's a shame because the game looks extremely beautiful without a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of icons on the screen all the time. There should be at least a way to set their sizes and be able to adjust their sharpness.
Minor details:
1 - The game's voicelines are neat, but they can become extremely repetitive at times, for example, every time you're stunned as a british you hear like 3 different soldiers at the same time screaming "Where's everyone!? I can't see straight!" And ottoman soldiers constantly shouting "I'm reloading" in turkish can become very tiring, specially if you know turkish.
2 - The screams of the dying and the squirming agonizing bodies that has characterized these series since Verdun have been removed, and I understand this is primarily due to the "downed" mechanic that has been implemented but I still believe they should be kept in case your soldier is killed. The realistically dark feeling of shooting someone and then hearing them scream or drown in their own blood was what caught my attention when I first tried Verdun, and it gave the battlefield a horrifyingly immersive feeling. In Gallipoli this is nowhere to be seen, battlefields are mostly silent with the exceptions of some dying voicelines that don't even get close to what we had back in Verdun, Tannenberg and Isonzo.
3 - At the maps of V Beach and Anzac cove, during the initial phase, when the british faction has to row it's way into the shore, if the entire crew of a boat, except the rowers (who are bots), die, the entire boat explodes, giving it a feeling like it was struck by an artillery shell. These explosions are pretty bad and break the immersion a little bit because the boat's model simply disappears automatically, no animation of it breaking down or anything. A very small detail that could help a lot when it comes to immersion.
Gallipoli is an amazing game, I can't wait to see it getting updated, congrats devs.
