Hearts of Iron

aka: Den' Pobedy, Gangtie zhi Xin, HoI, II Wojna Światowa
Moby ID: 7953
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Hearts of Iron is a strategy game that covers the World War II period at a theater-wide level. Unlike the majority of WW2 games, it focus on global strategy and not on tactical aspects. You play the role of any nation present on the period (not only the major powers of the Axis, Allies or the Komintern), and struggle to make your path over that turbulent years; not only the time of war, but also the years of pre-war (1936-1939), when tensions ran high and hostilities were soon to break out.

The game presents several scenarios that cover different time intervals, allowing you to choose between preparing for battle or starting in the middle of the affair. Also, the game includes a strong scenario editor to make the situation fit your preferences. Although the game is real-time, you can set the time flow and pause if you wish.

The final objective in the game is to make your ideology (fascism, communism, or democracy) the most extended in the world, and you do so, obviously, by the force of arms, but also making use of political influence and domination. On the road to victory, you have to pay attention to countless factors: industrial capacity, population support and discomfort, supplies, raw materials, convoys, weather, politics and diplomacy, including a huge technology tree and managing your own Cabinet from an also huge array of ministers and officers with their own motivations and personalities. Also, many historical and random events play their role in the outcome of each game.

The game has a strong board-like feeling, with the world divided into countries, and the countries into provinces, which are the tiles where action takes place. Each province has its own value, both material and of manpower capacity.

The game follows the path of the Europa Universalis series, and so shares many similarities with it.

Spellings

  • День Победы - Russian spelling
  • ハーツオブアイアン - Japanese spelling
  • 虎膽雄心 - Chinese spelling (traditional)
  • 钢铁之心 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (Windows version)

103 People (100 developers, 3 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 71% (based on 24 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 22 ratings with 1 reviews)

A fantastic strategy game!

The Good
Hearts of Iron has a unique way of simulating WW2 that makes it a vast amount of fun. The way in which it simulates battle and handles AI actions makes it very sophisticated in comparison to many other such games. Another nice aspect of the game is the huge range of countries it shows. This meaning every one in existence form 1936 to 1948 is playable. A defining aspect of this game is the amount of times it can be replayed. Meaning a player can go through the same campaign over and over again and yet never have the same result twice. A last point that must be mentioned is that a variety of exciting and interesting user made scenarios are available in various places that can make the game much more enjoyable.

The Bad
At the massive scale that Hearts of Iron is played it is only natural to have a few bugs that must be contended with. Most such game problems can be solved with the latest patch. In terms of what is bad about game play I would personally say the economic system was lacking in many ways. Only allowing a player to utilize four resources does not tend to give a very accurate view of this period of history. One last point that must be mentioned is that an astute player may very well become bored with the normal scenarios and need to download a modification campaign from the official web site.

The Bottom Line
This game is a real time strategy game with a cut view map. The object of the game is mainly to lead your nation to victory and glory in the second Great War.

Windows · by Matthew Furman (2) · 2004

Trivia

China

On May 29, 2005 it was reported that the game was banned in China by the Chinese Ministry of Culture for distorting historical facts.

Specifically mentioned were the fact that several Chinese provinces (Manchuria, West Xinjiang, Tibet) were depicted as independent nations within different scenarios. Taiwan is also listed as a Japanese territory at the beginning of the game.

The Ministry of Culture also mentions the game being an attack on China's reputation, pointing out a freelance mercenary character who with missions over the Soviet Union, Libya and China, where he conducts sabotage and espionage.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Technocrat.

Macintosh added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Rebound Boy, Unicorn Lynx, Shoddyan, JRK, Foxhack, Ivan Napreenko, DarkDante, Klaster_1, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger.

Game added December 12, 2002. Last modified March 16, 2024.