Hardcore strategists will love every bit of it...
So I bet some of you think that you know strategy games? You’re content with your Warcrafts, your Command & Conquers, and your Age of Empires. Well let me throw down a little fact: from a strategy perspective, those games are little kids. Hearts of Iron Platinum is the bully on the strategy playground that will give Warcraft a wedgie, steal Conquer’s lunch money, and force Empire’s face into the mud. If you think you know strategy then prepare to be rocked.
Hearts of Iron takes you back to those cheerful and happy days of the 1930’s. Prohibition had ended in the States, people were dancing swing, and, oh yeah, Nazi Germany was ready to unleash itself on all of Europe—or was it? Hearts of Iron lets you take control of more than a dozen nations like Germany, Japan, Nationalist China, the United States, and Poland to change or re-create history the way you see fit. In addition to national borders you’ll have to fight it out between the three international political ideologies—democracy, fascism, and the always delightful communism.
In your quest for global domination you can choose to make allies and peacefully negotiate territory or, on the other hand, if you think France is laughing at you then you can smack that smirk of his face and declare war. All these actions can be made in Heart’s primary interface that include the technology, military, production, and diplomacy buttons that are the bread and button of your operations.
The technology button, as you might have guessed, lets you coordinate your nation’s technological achievements. Tell you that you can upgrade various items would be an understatement. Anything that you can conceive being of military or industrial importance you should be able to upgrade. Improved infantry, advanced armor for your tanks, even the tanks themselves must be researched before you can build them.
Speaking of building tanks, this is where the military screen comes into play. Here you can set up new units, coordinate their deployment, and manage and create new divisions of military units. Out of all aspects of the game this one is the least complex and any trip to the military screen will give you time to collect your thoughts and then unleash them in the form of a new carrier group or a division of tanks.
The military screen highlights the variations of units that are included in Hearts of Iron. Like the real armed forces, your military is broke down into three groups—army, navy, and air force. The air force will see you utilize tactical bombers, fighters, and transport planes, among others. The navy, as you’re probably guessing, consists of the typical carriers, destroyers, battleships, and cruisers. The army is the most varied and includes your infantry, mechanized, and armored squads.
Your success on the battlefield all depends on the effectiveness of your fighting units. Each type of military unit has their strengths and weaknesses. Battleships can dish out massive punishment on land but are vulnerable to aircraft; militias are cheap but not very effective against trained units; then there’s the cavalry. Turns out cavalry aren’t very good against heavy armored divisions (the exception being French armored divisions, in that respect I had success) but will slaughter certain infantry types.
If you’re not much of a war hawk then you can try to negotiate peace, though at some point you’ll have to send those brave pixels into combat. The diplomacy screen allows you to declare war, negotiate alliances, and influence other nations. You can even share your research with your allies against a common enemy. Diplomacy is fairly straightforward and like the military screen, won’t take up much of your time. If it does, and you find yourself overwhelmed by everything you can simply pause the game to issue orders and take stock of your international position.
The last of the big four is the production screen where you can manage your natural resources. Your success as a nation depends on your ability to supply your military (and possibly your allies) and your population with the goods it needs. If your military squads are left out to dry with insufficient supplies then they will take a large hit in fighting capability. A division that can’t eat can’t defend and will quickly capitulate to the enemy—even if those enemies are Canadian.
Don’t leave all your focus on the front however as domestic politics plays a large role in Hearts of Iron. As a typical American, my first inclination upon starting a campaign was to invade Canada. Those beer-swilling Eskimos had been left alone long enough—forget Germany; I wanted to conquer the maple leaf. After defeating the last of the Canadian resistance I was informed that dissent was at epidemic proportions, military commanders were becoming less loyal to me, and my country had reached a state of civil war. The dissent system in Hearts of Iron is a quirky system that throws an extra curve ball into the normal gameplay. If you don’t keep your citizens happy then you’ll pay the price. Dissent will also rise dramatically if you declare war on like-minded nations such as the U.S. invading Canada.
In contrast to the extensive gameplay, there are a few things that will more than likely turn a few gamers off. Mirroring it’s original release, Hearts of Iron Platinum is insanely difficult. The tutorial, spelling mistakes and all, will only scratch the surface of the scenarios that you will tackle in the main game. You won’t really be prepared that will command your attention to the last detail.
You’re biggest problem in Hearts may, in fact, be the dissent system because the AI isn’t going to cause you much grief. The AI takes too long to do anything of worth and after several days of war will finally attempt to attack a province—in my experiences it was always the most heavily defended one. Coordinating attacks from multiple fronts will decimate the AI and it isn’t likely to match a move like that at any time.
Graphically, Hearts of Iron isn’t much to brag over. The global map is done adequately and the animations when attacking are flow smoothly. The icons representing industry, aircraft, infantry, and tanks are sparsely detailed but enough to get the point across to the player. I did, however, like the myriad of pictures of actual commanders from the time period. In their research the developers did a spot on job there. A few text alignment problems with some of the buttons on the multiplayer interface stand out but overall both the single player and multiplayer user interfaces were very clean and easy to navigate.
The sound is a mixed bag of good and bad. When you click on certain icons you’ll hear the marching of soldiers, airplane engines revving up, or tank treads moving. After a while they will become monotonous to the point where you’ll just want to turn them off. The classical music score does redeem the game though. When you first boot up the game you’ll be greeted to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkryies and as the game progresses you’ll be transitioned into songs by Tchaikovsky and similar composers.
In addition to the tutorial and single-player campaign there is a multiplayer available for local area network, direct internet, and Valkryienet play. On Valkryienet it was easy to find and join a game so you’ll have no problems playing online once the AI succumbs to your armies.
Hearts of Iron Platinum brings a few changes from the original release and seems like an overall better polished title. The learning curve however may stop this game from having any sort of retail success and won’t appeal to the masses. This game is for hardcore strategists only—tank rushers and zerg herders need not inquire.