Hearts of Iron III: World War II Is Bigger than You Remember

Written by: J. F. Amprimoz • Edited by: M.S. Smith
Published Aug 23, 2009 • Related Guides: Real Time Strategy | Strategy

The third installment in the Hearts of Iron series is the biggest and most detailed yet, but the addition of AI support also makes it the most accessible, though it is still a far cry from being easy to pick up.

World War II from the Top Down

There are a lot of games set in World War II. First Person Shooters let you experience the front lines as directly as a game can, and you can work your way up the command structure, moving through controlling a tactical team, taking over a battle, or running a whole military theatre. But for some out there, perhaps out of historical interest or just because this challenge is most interesting for them, the most exciting places in the war were miles from the sounds of combat: unassailable shelters full of cigar smoke and gentlemen exchanging communiqués with spies, diplomats, world leaders, and generals, using t-shaped sticks to push small armies around a map of the world on a massive table.

Hearts of Iron III delivers just that experience. If you’re in the mood for fast paced fragging, this obviously isn’t your first choice. Even a die hard fan of traditional Real Time Strategy games that involve directly commanding the movement of units will find Hearts of Iron III to be a much slower pace.

For those that want the armchair leadership of a nation during WWII, and not just its military, but economy, diplomacy, espionage, research, and politics, it is here: and in droves. The game has an intimidating amount of detail, but the ability to delegate just about any function to helpful AI advisors and generals means you don’t get bogged down in micro-management. Despite this, the game still has a very steep learning curve, which, along with the pacing, will likely make it a love it or hate it prospect for most people.

Hearts of Iron III Starting Experience
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Even with the AI doing its best to help you out, there are still hours to spend in game just learning basic operations, and reading the manual. This is the first game I have read the manual for in many years. There is a tutorial, but it is pretty much an amusing text that describes a few numbers about your economy and army, and doesn’t do much to help you get a handle on what you are supposed to do.

Going from the tutorial to playing Japan in 1942 left me quite flummoxed. Some time with the manual and playing as Canada, which starts with far fewer units and far from the fronts, allowed me to get a better grip on things. Unless you have played previous Hearts of Iron games quite a bit, you won’t be jumping into this one comfortably. Anyone that enjoys strategy gaming in an ultra detailed vein, or even WWII history, and has a good deal of patience, a bit of an analytical streak, and doesn’t mind reading a manual, can probably get a lot out of it. To put it one way, it takes longer to learn how to play Hearts of Iron III than it takes to beat many other games.

Hearts of Iron III Gameplay
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Putting in the time to learn how to play can be very rewarding. I don’t recall a game with this level of detail. EVERYTHING is modeled. The map isn’t broken into countries, or even provinces or states, but thousands of tiny regions. A country the size of Switzerland has a has over a half-dozen regions. Each region has, along with traditional strategy factors like industry and terrain defense bonuses, weather conditions which are modeled in connection with their neighbours. Rain can make jungles muddy, increasing attrition to disease and slowing progress, while attacking Stalingrad in the dead of winter is never any fun. Sending up bombers on a stormy night makes for slim odds that they will find the target.

Non military factors are also hugely interrelated and detailed. The tech tree is massive, and the more you research or manufacture a certain type of technology, the faster you can research and build it as well as related technologies. For instance, if you have done a lot of research on Capital Ships and other naval units research on Carriers will be faster.

Keeping the economy going strongly involves managing four natural resources to make four items you need to keep your army and country moving and growing. You have to balance your industrial production between upgrading troops, supplying them, producing more troops, and consumer goods to keep the masses happy. Economic and societal factors in your country create a pool of educated people that need to be balanced between research, diplomacy, espionage, and officers.