At it’s core, Hearts of Iron is a “Real Time Strategy” with a very retro feel. I have a tough time calling it a “Real Time” Strategy since you can pause the game and perform actions while paused. The retro feel comes from the movement of pieces around the game board and the way combat is performed abstractly.

Hearts of Iron is based in the time frame of World War Two and features historically accurate military units and political actions. The three central ideologies of the time are all in play, Communism, represented by the Commitern and lead by the Soviet Union, Fascism, represented by the Axis powers and led by Nazi Germany, and Democracy, represented by the Allies and lead by England.

Those of you who slept their way through history or are simply too young to have had the proper instruction might be surprised to see that the United States does not lead the allied forces. Yet again, Hearts of Iron, accurately represents history by keeping the United States away from the European front. The policy of isolationism is fully intact. But that is what makes Hearts of Iron so great, you can change history!

Let’s say you play as America circa 1936. Now, historically speaking the United States stayed well out of European affairs and the world followed the lead of Winston Churchill and England. But with your foreknowledge of historical events you can prepare the U.S. war machine early. You can prevent the disaster at Pearl Harbor. You can take an active hand in the war in Europe. Send troops to reinforce the French. Build you Navy and blockade Japanese. History is yours to rewrite.

And history is really what Hearts of Iron is all about. Throughout the game, as time transpires and depending on what actions have already happened you will be prompted to participate in the important historical events that have shaped our world. For instance, playing either the Germans or Russians in the early period (1936) of the game you will quickly be prompted to make a decision regarding your participation in the Molotov-Rippentop treat. This historic treaty is the one that paved the way for the German war machine and set the world on a collision course. This was more than a non-aggression pact between the Germans and the Russians, it was an agreement on how these two powers would carve up chunks of Europe, specifically Poland. After consuming Poland Germany turned their gaze toward France and used the Blitzkrieg to push all the way into Paris.

This was also a time of great advancement. And this is accurately reflected in the extensive amount of historically accurate research each country is able to undertake. This was the time when the radar and sonar came to the forefront of technology, where the tank and the submarine dominated much of the battleground and ultimately this is when mankind learned to harness the power of the atom. Suffice it to say that the research features in Hearts of Iron is joyfully rich, wonderfully accurate and truly meaningful.

But I feel the strength of Hearts of Iron is also it’s weakness. The game is not truly RTS and certainly not RTS in the way we think of these games today. You assemble a force and move that force around the game board in a manner similar to that of the Risk board game or the Total War series of RTS games. When combat is engaged, it is completely abstracted. You have no control over the outcome of the engagement except to withdraw.

Likewise the interface is very efficient for maneuvering the pieces around the board, for creating a unit, for performing research and for performing political actions. But when it comes to deploying troops, grouping units and selecting specific units, the interface fails pretty miserably. Don’t misunderstand. It works, but it is far from efficient.

My favorite feature, above all others, is the portraits. Each unit can be assigned a commander and that commander is represented by a real black and white photograph. I’ve look up a few of the more famous personalities of the time and was really pleased to see that they were as historically accurate as everything else.



Hearts of Iron is a very good game that is done well and should appeal to true strategy players and history buffs.