In the world map, you’ll get a grasp of your army’s divisions around the globe. Overall, this makes the whole experience a lot more accessible, and smooth. Navigating through the menus is a lot easier now, and there are fewer pop-ups that noise the screen. Also, this UI is an improvement over previous Hearts of Iron games. Using certain commands can be overly complicated, but it hardly affected my experience with the game. This is held together by the UI which is clean and easy to navigate, however at times it can be cumbersome.

Whenever you need more resources the game will send you a warning, then you only have two options either lower your production rate or ask your allies for resources.įactories and researches work in a typical fashion of tech trees and production lines, but a new addition to the franchise that goes in hand with those, are the national focus which not only will help you reach certain technology or political stand, but can also nail a historic moment, such as the development of the nuclear bomb or the declaration of war with another country. A common tactic during World War II is to cut away territories for supply lines so they can be weakened. They are the things that keep your nation efficient the higher those resources are, the faster your country works, the more reinforcements you can have and technologies will develop faster.Īnd the second important resource, are material resources which, this comes from the land you possess, are also important to keep track import routes and traffic lines between territories, as this can affect your troops in the long run. Here is where you can keep track of one the most important in-game resources, in fact, those resources are the only ones that end up showing on the overlay, National Unity, Manpower, Political Power and Factories. Depending on whom you choose, you'll get bonuses for resource management or military inquiry. You'll get to choose whom you want in your political cabinet. Politics still works the same as in previous games. Some mechanics came back from previous Hearts of Iron entries. On one hand, you need to manage your country in different areas, hopefully, all of them menu driven but working under different mechanics, and on the other hand, you have the world map, where most of the action takes place. This is a sandbox war game, and some historic changes are prone to happen this is where most of the fun of the game comes as you have to adapt and try to change or correct the history. The AI can be somewhat erratic since it will not always follow the history by the book. Another choice you need to make is to either start the game in 1936, before the war and at the beginning your political career, or just start in 1939, right on time of the blitzkrieg, and immediately jump right into the fray. If you don´t choose any of those, you´ll end up fighting for relevance during the war. Mostly because the conflict is centered around these nations. Although every nation is eligible, it is recommended to choose between the major war participants like Germany, the United States, Japan, Russia, Italy or France. Each nation is controlled by their own AI that supposed to behave like the corresponding nation did during that time, but one of these nations have to be controlled by you.

This game is a simulation of the world during the years 1936 through 1948. However as you may know, in the long run, this kind of games will end up being really compelling, therefore very addictive.

But if you love the kind of games that demands your patience and hours of dedication without any instant gratifications, also known as thinking man’s games, this will served you just fine. This might not be appealing for some, especially if you are used to games that are more mechanically and visually rewarding. You don’t experience this conflict from a soldier’s point of view, not even a general that´s on the battlefield, but rather from the leader of a nation perspective, meaning that you get to make the greater choices of such nation, choices that will end up shaping the world for the rest of the XX century. The difference between other World War II games like Call of Duty or Company of Heroes and Hearts of Iron IV resides on the scale.

Hearts of iron 4 review