Hearts of Iron IV (PC)

Hearts of Iron IV is the fourth major incarnation of one of the more serious war simulation games out there. Set during the WWII era (you can begin in either 1936 or 1939), you pick a country – any country – and see about carving out your place in history. It's you against the world, if you like. Or, if you prefer, you and the world against that one jerk who keeps invading every country that seems weaker than his is. While the game encourages having a nation follow its historical role, you can, through careful planning, decide to go in an entirely different direction.

 

History is yours to make

It goes without saying that if the name Paradox is on it, and it involves history in any way, you can bet that they’ve done their homework. Historical leaders of every country in the world make an appearance, along with various other known scientists, military personnel, and other important folks. This tremendous amount of historical depth and accuracy spreads itself across all the weapons, vehicles, military doctrines, and economic situations.

The basic gameplay principle in Hearts of Iron IV is to build up your nation/empire's infrastructure and economy in order to be ready for war when the time comes. You can build up your military via manpower, armor, aircraft, what have you. You can play with alliances and plot against your enemies – whether they know they're your enemy yet or not. Want to have a certain amazing tank or assault airship two or three years before it was historically available, thus giving you a secret weapon to utilize? Go for it! Just keep in mind that you will incur a steep penalty to your research time by doing this, and this will keep a Research slot tied up for a loooong time, which might have been put to better use by helping you learn a handful of other techs in the meantime. It's a tradeoff, and entirely up to you.

You can also decide to repeat the mistakes (and successes) of history...for the most part. Word has it that Normandy is NOT so nice this time of year. Get creative: you could seek to crush Germany before they ever get started, or play as Germany and decide that, yeah, maybe taking on the Russians isn't such a great idea...at all. Ever. Maybe convince them that a non-aggression pact is in their best interests – or, play the long con: influence their political leanings over time, and turn their massive war machine into your best ally.

 

Command and control

Hearts of Iron IV features a mouse-and-menu driven interface, with shortcuts galore. You can them to your playstyle, and there are mods up on Steam to further customize things according to your preferences. The game lets you define multiple theaters and battle lines (e.g. front line, fallback lines, etc) with a click and swipe of the mouse.

The interface is a lot simpler compared to the previous games in the series, making it easier for newcomers, and thus expanding the potential audience of the game. This should help to ensure the longevity of the series and broaden both its appeal and the variety of mods likely to come out for it.

 

Taking the field

Combat is at once insanely detailed and yet, incredibly abstract. You can choose to field armies comprised of a dozen or more troop types, complete with medical, radio, and artillery support, all represented as a single icon on-screen (or one trooper if you zoom in all the way). You can send out navies comprised mostly of, say, carriers (with their own specialized naval aircraft variants), with destroyers and cruisers riding escort, and a wolf pack of submarines ready to pounce on any unexpected company.

Land battles are set up pretty simply, at their core – just as long as you remember the old adage from Ike himself, “No plan of operations survives first contact with the enemy.” Once you are at war with an enemy nation, or you are about to start one, you define a front line by either clicking on your mutual border, or by “painting” the appropriate provinces with your mouse. Your attackers can be granted time to “prepare” for an offensive, granting them a bonus if they are not interrupted, or you can have them dig in and entrench, granting a defensive bonus. You can also set a Defensive line, as an area you want your troops to retreat to if things go sour.

Once the fronts are defined, you then paint over the target provinces within the enemy's territory. Your troops will do their best to cut a swathe through the enemy troops in search of that singular goal – thus, requiring you to do the occasional bit of micromanagement to keep them from abandoning provinces you want to keep. You can also select nearby airbases and have them fly sorties by way of close-combat air support, infrastructure bombing, and the like. Ships near the shores can bombard enemies on nearby land areas, and carriers can send their own planes to help out. Just un-pause the game, draw an attack order, and awaaaay-we-go!

 

Graphics

As you’d expect from Paradox, there are clear delineations between nations' territories, even at sea. Military units have basic icons when shown from a distance (a flag and a number), and each one is represented by a single soldier when you zoom close in. Zoom out again to reduce them to flags, which will automatically consolidate for the sake of simplicity the further you zoom out. As detailed above, combat is a bit abstract, but it does the job. It may not look spectacular, but the attention to detail – especially when it comes to terrain, is impressive. The weather and day/night effects are a nice touch, too. And you can ask General Paulus just how important the weather can be during an invasion.

 


Summary

Hearts of Iron IV is a great WWII grand strategy game that's worthy to bear the title. Hardcore long-time veterans might be turned off by the relatively simplified interface, but there are more than enough menus, sub-menus, sliders, and other details to keep most people happy. If you're new to the series, I'd recommend checking out some of the tutorial videos available on YouTube, as this game is not one that's going to hold your hand – though there is a tutorial. This game is worth checking out if you're a World War II fan, a grand strategy fan, or you just like the way Paradox does what they do best. (Review by Eric Kei)


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Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review
Hearts of Iron IV Review