Hearts of Iron Released in Sweden??

[Caldric]

I heard Hearts of Iron has released in Sweden. Any of you guys over there plan to pick it up and let us know if it is any good?

[Daniel L]

I'm not sure what kind of game it is actually, do you have any links?

regards

[Caldric]

Did you ever play Europa Unniversalis? It is based on the same game only 1936 to 1947.

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/hearts.asp

[Tim Smith]

This game looks amazing - if you liked Europa Universalis you'll love this!

See http://www.strategy-gaming.com/reviews/ ... ndex.shtml

And: http://hearts-of-iron.wargamer.com/

[Daniel L]

Aha, that game. I'm more into close combat, civ and flashpoint. Maybe i'll download a demo to find out if the game really is my cup of tea. I have several friends who play europa universalis.

regards

[Caldric]

Another good one out right now is Age of Mythology. It has to be the best real time strategy game I have ever played. Is a great game.

[Marcus]

I heard Hearts of Iron has released in Sweden. Any of you guys over there plan to pick it up and let us know if it is any good? :)

I'm not really a big fan of games, but I have Europa Universalis II so I'll probably buy this one too.

/Marcus

[Caldric]

I heard Hearts of Iron has released in Sweden. Any of you guys over there plan to pick it up and let us know if it is any good?

I'm not really a big fan of games, but I have Europa Universalis II so I'll probably buy this one too.

/Marcus

Europa was such an addictive game, was not flashy or anything, but once I started playing it I could not stop.

[Marcus]

Has anyone here bought it yet?

/Marcus

[Caldric]

Yes I have it, been a hard year on my entertainment budget with all the war games coming out and that have come out.

Anyway the game is pretty good. I think it is a bit hard to incorporate the Europa game engine into modern but they did pretty well. Here is a long but very good write up on the game:

http://hearts-of-iron.wargamer.com/arti ... egies.html

[subskipper]

I got it too. Not all that impressed so far. Hopefully Paradox can iron out some bugs and quirky AI behaviour in coming patches, but at the moment I doubt this game will be the hit EU and EU2 are with me. But it definately has great potential.


~Henric Edwards

[Marcus]

I got it too. Not all that impressed so far. Hopefully Paradox can iron out some bugs and quirky AI behaviour in coming patches, but at the moment I doubt this game will be the hit EU and EU2 are with me. But it definately has great potential.

As I recall the first releases of EU2 were also rather buggy.

/Marcus

[Caldric]

I got it too. Not all that impressed so far. Hopefully Paradox can iron out some bugs and quirky AI behaviour in coming patches, but at the moment I doubt this game will be the hit EU and EU2 are with me. But it definately has great potential.


~Henric Edwards

Agree with you on that.

[subskipper]

I got it too. Not all that impressed so far. Hopefully Paradox can iron out some bugs and quirky AI behaviour in coming patches, but at the moment I doubt this game will be the hit EU and EU2 are with me. But it definately has great potential.

As I recall the first releases of EU2 were also rather buggy.

/Marcus

True. And it worked out splendidly. I trust Paradox to sort this one out too. It isn't bad in it's current form, but no real blockbuster either.


~Henric Edwards

[Zachary]

Has anyone here bought it yet?

/Marcus

Yes I got it! I can't keep my paws off it! Here's my amazon review!

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)