Hearts of Iron

List Price: $29.99 Discount Price: $1.99

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Excellent idea, poorly documented. Be sure to patch. [Posted on 2004-04-15]
The game is fun, especially if you have ALOT of time. The level of detail can be overwhelming, but is also fun. You have control over generals, resources, trade, science, consumer goods, just about every major area is covered. Graphics suffered for good execution. You can play any country in the world that existed at the time. Literally any country. How well you do is another story. But it's fun to play, say, Nationalist China every once and awhile.

Basically, it reminded me of what everyone wanted wargames of my youth, the old board games, to be.

Another interesting point: It is a European game, heavily promoted in Germany.(...)

The website provides a lot of documentation, which you'll need.

Here's the bad:

1) It doesn't work well out of the box. Patch it before you play.
2) It's very poorly documented. The manual says there are things that aren't there, and doesn't meantion things that are. Go to the website and look at the forums. That's the only way to make it work.
3) Mac and PC versions are not compatible. That means no long game sessions between friends unless they all have one platform or another. There's really no excuse for this, especially given the low-level of graphics.
4) It takes a REALLY long time to play. This can be a bonus, but it can also detract. I basically play it when I'm home sick for a week from work.
5) Victory conditions are not scaled to different countries. If you play China, you are basically held to whatever side you join in the war, probably Allies. But if you don't join an alliance, you don't "win".

Good after lastest patch but tough [Posted on 2004-07-01]
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.

Liked Europa Universalis, hated this game [Posted on 2005-01-15]
When I heard this game came out and that it was by the same makers as EU, I was excited to start playing. I was very disappointed. This game, in my opinion, was harder than Europa Universalis--too hard to make it enjoyable. I still think though that the game is well put together and would be very interesting for those that like this era of history. Not for the light gamer.

looks are decieving [Posted on 2005-01-31]
all the detail in the game is really mesmerizing. fascinating until you get through the first months of playing and realize commerce, diplomacy, research although keeps up a promising appearance, it just don't amount to beans, ie you can rsearch all the stuff for nuclear bombs and/or V1 or V2 rockets, the game just does not have them designed to ever really happen. the designers figure you'll be too engrossed slogging it out with the icons. a real let down and major dissapointment when i finally have to accept the game is not all they marketers promise.

Wonderful [Posted on 2005-05-13]
The game is fun and depending on your mental capabilities you can do anything.(ever see brazil conquer the world??????????)
pretty much got me off of playing risk. I just need to get a chair with a back because playing for 10 hours straight hurts your back.
I has no patches. And the brazillians do not easily crush germany. Trust me. Its a game your either gonna love or hate. I personally Love it

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