Hearts of Iron Comments by DNM

These boxes just keep on coming though, and when you have to click ‘OK’ on each and every one of them it starts to make the blood boil. You can reduce the amount of pop-up messages via the horribly thought-out message options screen, but not being able to select all options means you have to go through every single option to disable the associated pop-up. Cheers for that.

Urr... you could just press the right mouse button and select how you want that kind of message to show up instead.

Pretty spot on review, tho. If you think it sounds interesting, go ahead. If not, stay WELL away.

Fair enough rating and review, if you exclude any patches. However I do believe you failed to mention some really strong parts of the game. For example:

Research. One of the finest I've seen in a game to date. There is just so much there and it all connects well. Plus every single item has its own little picture along with a history of it. You can learn alot from it.

When you consider that the combat is one of the main aspects of the game, that lack of real involvement is a bit surprising.

I really disgree with this observation. Take the Combat Box. I thought the ability to co-ordinate attacks is great. It allows you to send orders down to the hour; send your planes in an hour before your main attack to soften them up, blitz through with tanks, feint with infantry... etc. Surely this was worth a mention. You asked for aggression settings, well this really is it. A good attack relies on a whole host of issues: the weather (of which there are about 5 types possible), time of day, terrain, tech, generals... the list is damn long. Cut off your enemy units to form a kessel, starve them, bombard them and then finish them off with a final assault. Running around just ordering units left, right and centre will get you no where.
If you click on a battle you will see a run down of everything at play, including all the bonuses. Remember this is not a tactical game. Its a grand-strategy game. You play the leader of your nation and combat tactics just aren't your concern, that's left to your generals, yet the involvement, I think, is certainly there.


Resources. Yes, its a combat game, but resources play a role in it and help push your need for war. The World Market was mentioned, but not the reason for why you might need it.

Internal Politics. You don't just manage external relations, but also who your ministers, as each one offer a variety of benefits. On top of which there is the chance to alter election outcomes.

BTW, if you switch to the NATO counter style you get alot more information on your units in the main map view.

The game is complex, no doubt about it, and the interface, manual and tutorial really don't help you, but if you like a challenge and want a WW2 strategy game, this is it.

You tell him, FWB. :)

Addictive game, beware, it will consume you.

You tell him, FWB. :)

It was pretty obvious I would come to its defense. :)

Its good to see that EG covered this game, considering they missed out on Europa Universalis but I would be interested to know how long Keith spent with it before posting his thoughts. Its a tricky situation. Every review I've read, including this one, misses out on so much of the game because it is so deep and requires so much time to be spent on it just to get the basics. I do appreciate that only so much time can be spent on looking at a game its just here that really doesn't do it justice.

We want to try MP again sometime? Just discovered patch 1.03b so perhaps things might be a more smoother.

It is very hard to review a game like this within the time constraints, and with this much content also very hard to mention it all. That said I thoroughly immerse myself in every game I get in for review, it is the only fair way to do things, and HoI was no exception. Had I simply fired it up and had a quick play, I wouldn't have rated it at all (plus I would be neglecting my duty as a reviewer), but there is so much hidden in the depths that it would be criminal not to examine them further. I do agree with you though that research and resources should've played more of a part in my overall examination.

It's certainly not the sort of game I am inclined to pursue further post review though. Just give me my railgun and someone to kill!! ;)

Disclaimer: That last statement was with tongue firmly in cheek.

Go and buy this, now.