Iron hearts to run the world
Hearts of Iron
www.paradoxplaza.com/hearts.asp
Developer: Paradox Entertainment www.paradoxplaza.com/interactive.asp

Distributor: Red Ant Enterprises
www.red-ant.com.au/index.aspx

Players can control any of the world powers or other nations.

Units are ordered to move with a point-drag-click function.

Hearts of Iron is a grand strategic-level game covering the global conflict during the period 1934-1946.
Players can control any of the main powers of US, UK, USSR, Germany, Italy and Japan or take control of any other nations of the day.
Hearts of Iron is produced by Paradox Entertainment, the maker of Europa Universalis. It uses the same engine and interface as Europa Universalis but has numerous additions to reflect the change in period.
Players face the mountainous task of building up and focusing their country’s industrial might, investing in research and development, controlling and expanding their air, land and sea forces while conducting domestic and international diplomacy.
Hearts of Iron is played in real time – well at least in a continuous phase, with an adjustable time rate.
It’s played on a global map broken into land provinces and sea zones. The game icons are small animated models of infantry, tanks, fighter and bomber planes and an assortment of ships from subs through to aircraft carriers.
Heart of Iron provides players with the opportunity to attach generals and admirals to armies, air wings and fleets. There are familiar names such as Monty, Rommel and Patton, each with an individual skill and an ability to influence their attached forces.
For such a complex range of functions the game’s interface is relatively easy. Units are ordered to move and attack through a point, drag and click function.
Additional commands are available through a pop-up menu allowing a fair degree of control flexibility. The interface for some of the other screens is not as friendly though.
Combat is abstract, with units losing cohesion, manning and supply as a result of sharing a zone with an enemy unit.
Players have the option of playing several smaller scenarios or going for the full campaign from 1936 to 1946.
They can play against the AI, which has several difficulty levels, or against a human opponent.
The thought of playing multi-player is daunting. Playing the full 10-year war can take a score or more hours. To offset this players can jump in and out of multi-player games, leaving the AI to pick up where they left off.
Players will want to play multi-player because the game’s AI just isn’t strong enough to provide a very challenging opponent, no matter how difficult you set the AI’s levels
Hearts of Iron is a wonderful attempt at providing players with the opportunity to face many of the difficulties a nation’s leader faces at the grand strategic level.
Apart from feeling that the AI isn’t strong enough, this is a wonderful game that should keep players occupied for numerous hours.
Paradox recommends a PIII600 or better, 128MB RAM, 400MB HDD, and an 8MB Video card to enjoy Hearts of Iron.
n Thanks to Maj Martin McKone for his assistance with this review.