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	Hearts of Iron
	Developer: Paradox Entertainment Publisher: Strategy First Genre: Real-Time Strategy Players: 1-2 Similar To: Europa Universalis 2 Rating: Teen Published: 02 :24 : 03 Reviewed By: Nick Stewart Overall: 8 = Excellent

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And complex it certainly is: if you found Europa Universalis to be a daunting challenge, you're certainly not going to find Hearts of Iron to be a cakewalk of any sort. It's no simple matter to carve out your own piece of history here, as you're constantly forced to keep your eye on any number of factors, all of which have a distinct and crucial role to play in the functioning of your war machine. Items such as the economy and international trade can make or break your federal bankroll, which in turn will affect your ability to invest in your infrastructure, unit production, and military research. The accumulation and use of various resources such as oil and rubber is also important, as it affects your capacity for industrial production, and can lead to conflicts solely for the purpose of controlling specific resource-rich areas. This all goes without taking into account the units themselves, which in turn are subject to all manner of sub-level issues dealing with attrition, morale, supply, leadership, and so on. As a result, playing Hearts of Iron can be a positively colossal undertaking, and one that shouldn't be considered lightly. However, if you're willing to put in the time and effort, you might find the time investment to be worth it.

The genre's Holy Triad of Diplomacy, Research and Combat is wholly intact within Hearts of Iron, and in some ways is much more so than its Europa Universalis brethren. For starters, diplomatic matters are more fully fleshed out, and enable you to take advantage of a wider range of tactical options, such as influencing other nations, sharing research, or attempting to bring other nations into an alliance. Of course, you're unable to force ordinarily hostile and opposed governments to align, or to force countries into non-traditional alliances; in other words, don't expect to see England as a member of the Axis, helping Germany to lead the siege against Russia. Research plays a distinctly more significant role here as well, as is evident from the moment you lay eyes on the relevant screens. With actual tech trees that include numerous and equally important branches, significant military advances, and brand new technologies to be discovered - including the ever-ominous Nuclear Bomb - the entire realm of research will help to determine exactly how effective a force you will be as time goes on. In fact, the question is no longer, "Will I invest in technological development?" but rather, "In which branch of research will I invest my funds?" Simply put, failing to take advantage of the opportunity to improve your infantry, upgrade your tanks, discover new units or to develop new defenses will likely find your generals dead and your nation flattened before long. It's certainly an idea that's true to the period, and the general smoothness with which it's been implemented helps to build the atmosphere considerably.

A game revolving around World War II wouldn't be worth talking about if it handled combat poorly, but thankfully, that isn't an issue with Hearts of Iron. Although the systems of supply and movement are similar to those within the Europa Universalis series, combat itself is much more tactical and allows for a surprising degree of flexibility and creativity. The main reason for this lies within the Combat Coordination box, a powerful battlefield tool that enables you to establish the exact date and time for a given unit or set of units to arrive in a given province/country, and exactly what they will do once they get there. This might not sound particularly ground-breaking, but it actually makes it feasible to soften up a target province by arranging for your bombers to make a run through it, then have a tank division rumble through it two hours later, only to have your troops help to mop up whatever might be left two hours after that. It really is a stroke of genius, and a true element of strategy to a genre that often finds it lacking.

This isn't to say that Hearts of Iron isn't without considerable problems, the most obvious of which is the staggering learning curve and rather paltry documentation. Considering the expanded depth of the entire system, it's a shame to see that the manual is apparently even smaller than that of Europa Universalis 2; it's certainly much less informative. The meager in-game tutorials do little to make up for this rather disastrous shortcoming, as they skip over considerable chunks of the experience, and leave you to discover the more complex workings on your own. Not only does this do players a tremendous disservice, it further serves to keep newcomers and novices at arm's length, which does nobody any favors. Hopefully this particular problem is rectified in future releases.

What's more notable than even this, however, is the jaw-dropping amount of bugs scattered about the game like so many landmines. Random crashes, save game corruption, broken tutorials, erratic and underperforming AI all contribute to what is easily one of the buggier releases in recent memory, and render the game incredibly difficult to play out of the box. Thankfully, the developers have been quite diligent in releasing earth-shatteringly monstrous patches that address record-breaking amounts of problems. As a result, Hearts of Iron is now much, much more playable, and although several AI and balance issues are still being ironed out, there are few show-stoppers to be seen. Attempting to play the game might not have been worthwhile upon its initial release, but it's definitely a different story now. As it stands, Hearts of Iron is a great game that, despite some flaws, manages to successfully introduce the spirit of World War II to a genre that desperately needed it.

Graphics: 7/10
As the Europa Universalis engine has been used to power Hearts of Iron, it's not a surprise that the two look virtually identical. Colossal world maps marked with bright colors are again the main theme here, with the prime difference being the appropriate change in unit icons, which are more functional than anything else. It's obvious that this is a game about substance rather than style, and although it's not ugly by any means, it's not a particularly wondrous thing to look at either. What is somewhat strange is that provinces have often been broken down in less-than-historical fashion, and are often given the name of the most resource-laden city in that area. For example, I was downright shocked to see a huge chunk of eastern Canada named after my hometown, which was one of the world's leading producers of nickel during the war. It's somewhat distracting, though it doesn't detract from gameplay in any real fashion. What should be noted here is that the developers have dug up a great many photos from military and political leaders of the time, all of which are used with their in-game counterparts. It's a small addition, but one that helps to spice up what is an otherwise generally bland graphical whole.

Sound: 7/10
Much like the graphics, Hearts of Iron's audio portion is mostly about functionality than showiness, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Occasional sound clips play as you order about your units, make certain decisions and generally maintain the state of your country and your military, though none of these prove to be overly distracting, as they serve their purpose and little else. The music, on the other hand, is as grandiose and majestic as ever, encompassing a ton of classical music that at times seems gloriously appropriate, and at others seems strangely out of place. Still, at the end of the day, you're left with the likes of Bach and Tchaikovsky churning away in the background, which is hardly something to complain about.

Control: 5/10
Perhaps the greatest flaw of the Europa Universalis system is with regards to its handling of information. All too often, you're forced to search through countless menus, only to discover that you're not provided with the exact info or numbers that you're looking for. This is very much in keeping with the general clunkiness of the interface, which is far too cumbersome, and while it's obvious that strides have been taken to improve it for this incarnation, there is still considerable room for improvement. What is done well is the ability to filter the type of pop-up messages you receive, and how you receive them. Since there can often be an overwhelming amount of them during wartime, this is certainly a good thing.

Overall: 8/10
In its attempt to encompass the whole of World War II, Hearts of Iron presents itself as an incredibly complex game whose drastic learning curve and poor documentation are guaranteed to keep away newcomers to the genre. However, with some patience and the latest patches, genre veterans will find a great deal to enjoy here, as a terrific mix of diplomacy, economy management and combat combine here to create what is certainly one of the most ambitious and entertaining takes on the period. Whether or not the game's potential is fully realized is somewhat questionable, but there's no denying that, despite the remaining bugs, iffy AI and clunky interface, Hearts of Iron is an engaging and highly amusing effort. (Note: This review was based on the fully patched version; unpatched gets a 5).

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