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A winner for sure

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 16
Date: November 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Hearts of Iron, the latest (soon to be) release from the Scandanavian brainchild of PC strategy gaming, Paradox, follows in the footstep of its ancestor, Europa Universalis.

Taking control of a nation - and not just the big powers, but even small ones such as Romania or Greece.. you guide your selected homeland through land, air and sea all over the globe. Fighting for your cause and ultimate victory or defeat - or perhaps stalemate await your efforts.

I believe this game will be a lot of fun because of the depth and scope of the game. Not european theatre, or africa, or pacific - fighting on many fronts all over the world. The possibilities will be endless. With strategy, resources, and dumb luck you may be able to save Poland from being devoured once more by ravenous neighbors, dominate the pacific as Japan, or bring the war to its historical conclusion!

It should be noted for history buffs that due to certain restrictions in Europe and for basic reasons of not wanting to offend certain ethnic groups affected by the war, Swastikas and any kind of concentration camps or ethnic cleansing have been omitted from the game. ...

A Dream Come True

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 29
Date: November 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Based on a (highly modified) European Universalis 2 Engine, Hearts of Iron lets you play World War 2 from 1936 to 1948.

Play as any country, on the entire globe. Research hundreds of military technologies, assign hundreds of individual commanders and politicians. Deep diplomatic model lets you join alliances (either democratic, communist or facist), influence other nations, trade resources or technology.

Resources (steel, oil, coal, rubber) are critical to keeping your war machine running. Trade for what you don't produce (protect your convoys). Develop the technology to convert coal to synthetic oil, or oil to synthetic rubber. Better yet, conquer the sources of what you need. Diplomacy is key to preventing potential enemies from acting until it is too late.

Play Czechoslovakia and refuse to give up the Sudetenland. Play the US and struggle to get your people ready for war. Play as any nation on the map (sorry, Monaco and the Vatican are not represented).

Programmed by the team that brought you EU and EU2, detail and replayability are guaranteed. For fans of Grand Strategy, this truly global World War 2 game is a dream come true.

Hitler reincarnates!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 17
Date: November 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I don't have the game yet - but do own EU 1, 2 and have been closely following the HOI forums. With the depth and complexity of this game - managing research, army formations, ministers, diplomacy, naval and air warfare, resources, production and industry - whoaa! A wargamer's wish come true! The HOI forums at paradox.com would fill you in with the exact features of the game. Caveat though - if you are the type of person who wants an action filled shabang game - stay away. My only beef with this game is the time span although I am sure someone will mod this anyway. I am a civ fan but this game would be more complex in depth.

Europe in Flames...or is that your brain frying?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 26
Date: November 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

One of the best game titles with a great genera mixed in with it! Wow! What more could one ask? Well...maybe one has already asked too much...

The game is going to be great, I played a demo and it provides the grognards out there with the ultimate in unilateral WW2 scenario perfection. Build your country from the ground up and make it the greatest power in the world! Technological control, situational briefings, political dynamics, and strategically encompassing...that is this game all over.

There is a bit of a problem with this though...the time consumption. I played beginning in 1938, with the Austrian Anschluse just ending and Germany gearing for war...three hours later I finished the year! I mean it was a rough trek, I had to organize convoys, and covert political missions, economic revival, military design, technological research, and deal with all the SOBs around me who wanted to pop a cap in my budding society!

Whew! I smoked a Chezch invasion and a Polish blockade and secured military control of Hungary, but I was so strung out by the end of the third hour I almost snapped when the Soviets and the Polish signed a treaty! A treaty! My plans were devastated! I ran out of demo time, but I do have to say that saved me (and the computer) from a terrible fate. I was so tired of dealing with all of the nit-picks of national functions that I felt like FDR in April of '45.

This game demands your full attention, no meaningless turn skipping, no ignoring of a coal convoy to Stockholm, no passing of a .02% increase in coal production in Munich for .01% decrease in synthetic oil production. You have to do it all, and that makes every turn a critical decision turn. Attacks are made so important that you almost cry when a unit suffers damage, its that rough!

My advice is to get this game if you want a game that requires total concentration, and the shutting off of outside life. It is the game that makes certain when a mistake happens...you only have yourself to blame! This is a hit-or-miss title. You have to ask yourself weather or not your in it for the war or for the micromanagement; are you an Albert Speer or an Erwin Rommel; did you like Close Combat or Eastfront II; do you value your computer or do you love it when, after hours of coercing France into a false sense of security you are attacked by her ally England and France declares war on you sending your next four years of planning down the drain?

Awesome game in need of refinement

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a game I eagerly awaited ever since hearing about it, and it doesn't disappoint in magnitude and realism. Of course it'll need a patch or two (1 already came out that fixed many issues) but it hasn't crashed on me and most bugs I've encountered after the first patch have been minor. That said, this game is everything it advertises and more. Buy it, prepare yourself for full immersion into WWII, and while the hours away!

Pretty good, but there's some weak spots

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 31 / 40
Date: December 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I just got this game yesterday, so I may not have thoroughly played it. It's set in WWII, from the years 1936-1948. You could play a game from 1939-1948 and 1941-1948. I find it fun that you can play as any country you want from that time period. From Bhutan to the Liberia it covers many countries. Mainly there's the major powers, Germany, Italy, UK, USA, France, Soviet Union, and Japan. Every country falls into a category of Fascism, Communist, demoractic, or neutral. The major powers persuade minor neutrals to get on their side. A setback to being a minor nation is lack of stuff to do. You don't have much IC's (Industrial Capacity; the "money" of HOI) and much of a military. But playing a major nation is great fun.

There is a massive technology tree. Too massive in my opinion. I guess I could say it gives you too many options so that you don't really know what they are about. There's like fifty, under different catagories; Infantry, Armoured, Nuclear, Light Aircraft etc. But the tech tree is so massive, and you start out with so little, that it's impossible to reseacrh all. You should focus on a few areas not all. (There's like twenty main cataegories). It takes s long time to research for most, from 60 days to 240 days.

The dipolomacy option is I guess you could say is Hearts of Iron's "claim to fame". However, it is rather limited from my view. As Germany I could demand territory, but only a few countries can. You can declare war, annex, install a puppet regime, and a few more, but you cannot do more "fancy" stuff like sign different types of agreements, treaties etc. Playing as Germany, the Allies declared war on me in 1938, for no reason at all. I could ask for peace but they wouldn't give it to me. And some countries don't become your allies, but that's natural, although they don't give a reason.

The militaries are extensive but a big probelm is the amount of time it takes to create a unit. Time to build one is measured in days, and it usually takes a long time for a good unit. FOr carriers and battleships I've seen 800 days. And a day in HOI takes awhile, like a minute. But the amount of units are incredible. Under three main catagories, land, sea, and air, they can be divided further, infantry, armored, destroyers, submarines, fighters, torpedo bombers, and transports for both sea and air. They're usually divison, squadrons, and groups respectivaly, but I've thet can be bigger when grouped under one of the hundreds of leaders they've researched. They can be shown on a map as little pegs or men. The graphics aren't too stunning, but that's okay becaus ethe gameplay is enchanting.

A problem I've had is the amount of pop-ups that come up at an event. Every battle is popped up, (you can get rid of them easily, by right clicking and saying "Don't show again") and every outcome. It gets very annoying when you are playing as a major nation with massive armies.

Terrain I've found out isn't a crucial factor as in other games. You can turn on the map to show terrain, and the pictres for terrain are very plain and ugly. Going over rivers takes time, but engineers (which can be built with units) help make it faster. I've never seen weather in actions, but I know it affects the outcome of battles, especially air battles.

Overall Hearts of Iron is a pretty fun game, though in the furture I can see myself getting tired of it, especially after Christmas. There are many options, for lots of fun.

Pros:
1. Great gameplay
2. You can play any country at that time!
3. Huge armies can be built
4. Lots of units to choose from
5. Diplomacy is a big part

+/-
1. Massive tech tree
2. Graphics are okay (too good can take away your attention)

Cons
1. Plain graphics
2. Lack of things to do (just three typres of games)
3. Too WWII-centric
4. A.I. and be stupid at times (like when war is declared for no reason)

Bugs, Crash and more. Dont they playtest this first?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game has a lot of depth and I would recommend that you get it. A nice feature is the large and in depth technology tree and nice graphics. I am going to keep this game just because it has such potential. However, I will highlight just a few of the problems I have encountered in the last 24 hours, THAT THE MOST RECENT PATCH DOES NOT FIX. (11-26 patch)

The game has crashes at least 4-5 times an hour. Whats upsetting is the fact that some of the bugs could have been fixed with some iota of playtesting by the developer. For example, if you try and upgrade a military unit of a country you are allied with the game crashes.

The resource management sounds good but I have 99999 of each resource after a few years. Therefore the resource management is worthless.

The bottom line is this: its a great game that was rushed to the market and is LOADED with technical glitches and bugs.

very addictive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

i had to run from store to store because it was sold out, but i was lucky enough to get it the day before thanksgiving (and the closed stores). it really is quite an awesome game. buy it if you are like me and will disregard the outside world to send panthers and tigers deep into russia.

excellent ww2 game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

i've actually been playing the game, unlike most of the other reviewers. it is very good, and will keep you glued to the computer.

Wow! Finally a strategy game I can enjoy.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 27
Date: December 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Tired of RTS games that tend to be light on strategy and just a long clickfest? Tired of games that promise the world but only allow you to operate tiny bits of it? Then grab this game.

Hearts of Iron is a strategic simulation of World War II (Europa Unviersalis I & II cover earlier time periods). You can be ANY nation you want during the period of 1936-48. Of course if you pick Bolivia you should realize that you're going to be stuck with Bolivia in the mid 20th century, which means that creating an atomic bomb before the US might be out of your reach. After all, this is a simulation of a real event, not scifi! Still, anything is possible and you're welcome to try out any strategy for world domination that you like.

The economic and political models go deep and your choices are plenty. Some have noted that there isn't time to research it all. That is true but it's not a design flaw, it's realism. Nations during World War 2 often had to make choices as to what they would build and devote time and energy to research. Most nations simply were not wealthy enough to do everything (the British abandoned work on the A-Bomb after realizing they simply couldn't afford to continue). This is true in the game as well and it forces you to make choices as you guide your nation through the war. That's the fun of a strategy game though, making hard choices and pursuing a strategy to victory.

The military model is also good. Individual carriers, battleships, and cruisers are depicted for the navy, individual divisions for the army, and wings for the air forces. All of these units can be grouped into higher command structures to make issuing orders easier while still preserving much historical realism.

Individual leaders are represented, both political and military. Don't like one of them? You can replace them with someone else (be careful replacing the popular ones, the citizens might become upset). If they please you however you can promote them up the ladder to greater positions.

This game is as good as people are saying about it and more, if World War 2 on a strategic level interests you at all, this is the game!

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