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

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

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

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