New York, – June 7, 2010 – Yesterday 66 years ago, Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy on their way to victory and the end of World War II. In 2010, Paradox Interactive leads a figurative attack on the strategy-game world with the release of Hearts of Iron 3: Semper Fi, the first expansion to its acclaimed World War II strategy game. – Paradox Plaza
I start to think that I like to put myself through pain simply because yet again I took time to try out another strategy game, Hearts of iron 3.
Unlike many strategy based games, they give you “total control” over any nation. Now what is this “sarcasm” I sense in that statement you might say, so let me tell you why.
First things first. I have come to dislike, with a passion, strategy games. I guess I am one of the few that really doesn’t them.
Graphics are the way you expect them to be in a strategy game
There are probably many people out there that can play them with ease and for hours just looking at data/numbers not needing any other distraction like moving troops or anything motion for that matter. While I’m writing I am actually having the game on in the back ground not needing to do anything since nothing actually happens, let me take a look…. nope nothing new and this has been going for an hour now.
There is plenty of buttons in the game but rarely anything that you can push so anything happens and I even went through the tutorial.
The tutorial is more of a explanation on were everything is, not how to use it. When they say something like “this is very important to take care of immediately when you see it” I expect to be shown how to “take care” of this important task layer before me. Some of us do rely on the game explaining to us how things are done, hence a tutorial that covers everything. The whole tutorial only takes you on a tour without explaining how to use anything. tisk tisk.
OOhh look a truck! This is as interesting as it gets!
After the tutorial I started playing as Good ‘ol Germany. Everything was on AI control and good thing that it was since i didn’t know what to do, Germany had just started their war with the rest of their world, invaded Poland and so on. Although, going through every panel in the game and the only thing available to me was giving people a higher rank. Not very impressive. Maybe I hit an “play this game for me” button somewhere. Rest to say I was already frustrated and confused. Maybe when you create something to the magnitude of covering to many scenarios of WWII, it will get cluttered and simply to overwhelming to understand what is going on for a casual player.
Give me action, give me fights, shooting face-stab, give me something but boredom… please!
I do know this however. One person that would love this game would be my Fiancées stepfather. He is a guru when it comes to games like these and would most likely appreciate it on a different level them myself.
One of the five billion sheets/menus. Yes I am embellishing it. But that was how I felt.
I am a firm believer that a strategy based game doesn’t need to be boring. I have played StarCraft, that wasn’t boring. .Sure it is might not be the same scale as this game but at least you could start playing and understand what happened since the learning curve is not from 10 to 10 but from 1 then gradually to 10. Maybe I am just a simpleton that doesn’t understand the grateness that the creators tried to show me.
This is more a game for people that is all in to strategy football games and doesn’t need visual stimulation to play a game, but I need it so give me Super Mario any day instead of this.
Let me check how the game is progressing again… Poland won a battle that happened in the background that I had no controll over, and im glad, Poland needs to win a war sometimes even though it was only in a game. (polish wife beats me up insert here)
Buy it if you like games like this, you might find some strategic nirvana by playing it. Me, I will leave and maybe one day pick this game up again when I can comprehend the whatever dept or mental level this game is designed for.
Features
Play as any nation from 1936 to 1948, more than 150 countries to choose from.
Control the oceans with aircraft carriers, submarines and battleships and use your air force to defend your skies, support your naval and ground forces, and to bomb your enemies
Thousands of historically accurate real-world military commanders and politicians.
Realistic military command AI with unprecedented levels of interaction
In-depth diplomatic and political system.
Historical accuracy combined with an unparalleled level of freedom of choice
Customize your divisions in detail with more than 20 types of brigades
Government-in-exile makes it possible to continue to struggle from abroad with underground movements and uprisings against the oppressing power.
Strategic warfare system makes it more important to defend the skies and oceans against foreign attacks; leaving cities open to enemy bombing will now be devastating.
A completely new intelligence system, with several types of intelligence sources, makes it possible to get information about enemy reserves and troop movements.
Assign troops to “theatres” on the map to fight two-front wars more successfully.
The new AI system and more detailed map will allow for more strategic decisions.
Flexible technology system with hundreds of categories, and unlimited research.
Highly realistic historical order of battles.
The first realistic logistic system ever in a strategy game.
About Hearts of Iron 3
The Hearts of Iron series has become renowned for being the biggest, most detailed and complete strategic game series on World War II ever made. Hearts of Iron 3 will follow that tradition closely while focusing on satisfying veteran players through a multitude of brand new features and systems, including a huge map with more than 14,000 land and sea provinces. Recent recognition includes Readers Choice for “Best PC Strategy game” at E3 and nominations in the same category at IGN and Gaming Excellence. Join the Hearts of Iron community on the forum or on Facebook. – Paradox Media
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