Cheap Hearts of Iron (Software) (Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000) Price

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Customer Reviews of Hearts of Iron

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. ...

Pretty good, but there's some weak spots
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)

Good after lastest patch but tough
loving europa universallis and loving WWII i thought this game would be great. it is pretty good but it is extremly difficult. if im an allied nation the nazis win, if im the axis the allies win. the tech tree is huge and it is really in depth with micro managment. if your a fan of europa universallis i suggest you get it. if you are new to this genre of game i suggest you try it out first. if you hated europa your gonna hate this.