Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday
Description official descriptions
Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday is stand-alone expansion of the Hearts of Iron II. The original game is included with improvements.
It is 1936 and Nazi Germany is about to change the course of world history. Years later, the Allies have defeated the Nazi threat and the choice to change history lies in the player's hands to alter the paths of the Allies or the Communists in what possibly may be World War III. Take the role of the government from one of 175 available countries to choose from, ranging from the year 1930 to 1953 as the largest countries in the world prepare for war: United States, China, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Japan.
There are four campaigns available (1936, 1939, 1941, and 1944) from the original game and one extra Doomsday scenario (1945) and three alternative What-If scenarios.
Spellings
- День Победы II. Новая война - Russian spelling
- ハーツ オブ アイアン II ドゥームズデイ - Japanese spelling
- 鋼鐵雄心:末日戰役 - Chinese spelling (traditional)
- 钢铁之心II:世界末日 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Windows version)
36 People (34 developers, 2 thanks) · View all
President and CEO | |
Producer | |
Director of Publishing | |
CFO | |
Programming | |
Art Director | |
AI Scripting | |
Artist | |
Campaign Design | |
Manual | |
PR and Marketing Manager | |
Product Manager | |
Quality Assurance | |
Editing | |
Original Music | |
Sound Effects |
|
Translation |
|
Market coordination - USA | |
Market coordination - Germany, Austria and Switzerland | |
Market coordination - UK | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 75% (based on 17 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 9 ratings with 1 reviews)
A very addictive strategy game but also very irritating in gameplay
The Good
*2nd update
This is the first Hearts of Iron game I've played. Not bad really this game, not the best when it comes to top strategy games in my book, but at least "above average".
The game is a top-down strategy game that "tries" to mimic the WW II situation, with you acting as the supreme leader of an appointed nation, try to conquer civilization as we know it.
Nice to know you can play the Nazi's for a change. Be the bad guy, though when you play the game, technically there isn't any bad guys, there are just guys with guns, the more and bigger guns, the badder the guy!
It is interesting though how the game describes the actions that led to WWII. You got the allies, the axis and the communists. Three big ass factions who all want more. Though surprisingly I still can't understand why the Soviet Union wants more when their nation is 1/3 of the whole dang map. But when you played this game, you realize that Stalin is an idiot and Hitler was brilliant (at least when he was winning).
The Bad
There is a lot of bad things about the game, not that the game is bad, but simply because I've played better games with a similar concept.
The first thing you realize is that this game has its focus a little messed up. It's not a managerial game, it's not a war strategy game, it's not a political game either. It's a little bit of everything, but really doesn't focus much on either one (though a little more on the war side).
Technically that really isn't a problem. It becomes a problem when your player gets a little ambitious and realize that you can't do this and that, because those features aren't supported in the game. The game provides a whole lot of information, if not a little overwhelming the first time around, but when you play the game further on, that information seems only a couple of pages long.
Don't get me wrong, the game really tries, but it just doesn't focus enough on one area. Most of the information becomes a little useless as during gameplay it's not provided where you want it to be.
Which is why we come to the game interface. Again, it's not terrible, in fact its quite good. But not the information is there where you want it. A small example is when you attack another province. There you have a small box stating time to attack and yes and no. Not much information there eh? The thing is the other information you want is also available, like weather, terrain, unit strength, defence, etc. But it's available in other places, not where you want it to be. Other games provide a lot of information WHERE YOU WANT IT. This game lacks focus in providing information at the right time.
<hr />The above mentioned is a minor defect in the game. There is however, a major defect: History.
The game greatly tries to mimic World War II, however in a somewhat irritating way. It almost exactly follows the World War II setting. No matter what you do, it almost exactly follows the WWII setting. Choosing otherwise though possible, would greatly mean a fast demise of your faction (eg. Soviet Union attacks your behind).
Historical events greatly dominate the game. These events unfortunately cannot created by a player. For example, there are many historical agreements between nations that effect another nation. There are no options for a player to do such (like the agreement between Germany and Soviet to divide Poland). Any international policy you have is either trading or standard international agreements.
I've played games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Note that this game was ages ago, but it was greatly superior in gameplay than this game will ever be. Why? Because it lets the player decide what to do with history. So what if Germany doesn't invade Poland? The fact that your playing the game as Germany should mean a historical difference. Even if you don't invade Poland or France, events in the game will FORCE you to do so, since the other option is far worse.
The developers of the game need to spend more time in gameplay that in mimicking history.
<hr />Then there are little irritating details in the game that I've noticed. The interface really isn't user friendly, here are the examples:
**The Bottom Line**
Addictive as hell but there are still one too many features in the game that makes is a "mediocre" strategy game instead of a dang good one. The developers should really try playing the game for 48 hours and realize all those little faults they missed.
Windows · by Indra was here (20750) · 2006
Trivia
Scenario
The game was set during the time period of 1939 to 1953. The reason for the year 1953 refers to historical death of Stalin (Soviet Union). The developers used this year to mark the "end" of the World War II conflict and possible "what-if's" since Stalin was one of the major key players in WW II.
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!
Related Sites +
-
Doomsday Expansion Forum
Official Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday Forum -
Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday
Official website -
Leader Date Change
From Modhoi.com - Several mods to download for Doomsday, including a patch that allows you to alter the death dates of leaders (as leaders can die in the game).
Identifiers +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Indra was here.
Macintosh added by Kabushi.
Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Foxhack, Klaster_1, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger.
Game added May 9, 2006. Last modified January 21, 2024.