''Hearts of Iron'' is a

grand strategy Grand strategy or high strategy is a state's strategy of how means can be used to advance and achieve national interests. Issues of grand strategy typically include the choice of primary versus secondary theaters in war, distribution of resource ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Paradox Development Studio Paradox Development Studio (PDS) is a Swedish video game developer founded in 1995. It is closely associated with its parent company and video game publisher, Paradox Interactive. It is best known for its grand strategy wargame series ''Europa U ...

and published by

Strategy First Strategy First Inc. is a Canadian video game publisher based in Montreal. Founded in 1988 by Don McFatridge, Steve Wall and Dave Hill, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and was subsequently acquired by Silverstar Holdings in 2005. Initia ...

. Based on the Europa Engine, it was originally released in 2002 for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. A

Mac OS Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...

version was released by

Virtual Programming Virtual Programming is a video game publisher for OS X and Linux. Virtual Programming has worked with publishers such as Square Enix, 2K Games, Epic Games, Epic, Codemasters, Techland and CD Projekt Red. Virtual Programming sources games from t ...

the following year. In 2004,

Atari, SA Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...

published ''Hearts of Iron: Platinum'', an updated version that sought to improve several aspects of the game. ''Hearts of Iron'' allows the player to take control of a nation in the world and guide it through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the years immediately before and after it. ''Hearts of Iron'' is the first game in the eponymous series of

grand strategy wargames A grand strategy wargame or simply grand strategy game (GSG) is a wargame that places focus on grand strategy: military strategy at the level of movement and use of a nation state or empire's resources. It is a genre that has considerable overlap ...

. Three additional games have been released in the series: ''

Hearts of Iron II ''Hearts of Iron II'' is a grand strategy computer war game for the PC based upon its predecessor, ''Hearts of Iron'', which was developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. It takes place in the time period fr ...

'', ''

Hearts of Iron III ''Hearts of Iron III'' is a grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. The Microsoft Windows version of the game was released on August 7, 2009, while the Mac OS X version was released ...

'', and ''

Hearts of Iron IV ''Hearts of Iron IV'', also known as HOI4, is a grand strategy computer wargame developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released worldwide on 6 June 2016. It is the sequel to 2009's '' Hearts of Iron ...

''.

Gameplay

Players play as a nation in the world in the years leading up to, during, and immediately after

. There are three main alliances in the game: the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

, and the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

. Nations in the game can attempt to join these alliances. Players can also control their nation's economy, government, and military. The game ends when there is only one alliance left or when the end date is reached; the winning alliance is determined through a victory point system, with points being given to alliances that control key regions or cities.

Sequels

A sequel to ''Hearts of Iron'', ''

'', was released in 2005. Two spin-offs were created for ''Hearts of Iron II'': '' Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game'' and '' Arsenal of Democracy: A Hearts of Iron Game''. The third game in the series, ''

'' was released on August 7, 2009. ''Hearts of Iron – The Card Game'' was released as a

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

browser-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...

on October 3, 2011. '' East vs. West – A Hearts of Iron Game'' was scheduled to release in 2014, but was canceled. ''

'', the fourth main installment in the series, was released on June 6, 2016.

Reception

The game received "average" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Tom Chick of ''

Computer Games Magazine ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...

'' summarized ''Hearts of Iron'' as "an ambitious mess, a noble mess, certainly a well-intentioned mess, but ultimately a mess nonetheless".

''Hearts of Iron: Platinum''

''Hearts of Iron: Platinum'' was released in 2004 with the intention of improving several elements of the original game. According to Metacritic, ''Hearts of Iron: Platinum'' received slightly more favorable reviews than the original ''Hearts of Iron''.

Ban in China

The game was banned in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

because of the game's depiction of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

under Japanese control and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

Sinkiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, and

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

as independent nations (historically, Manchuria was a Japanese puppet state and Taiwan was under Japanese control for most of the time period depicted in the game).

References

External links

Official series website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hearts Of Iron 01 2002 video games Computer wargames Classic Mac OS games MacOS games Paradox Interactive games Real-time strategy video games Censored video games Windows games World War II grand strategy computer games Video games developed in Sweden Strategy First games Works banned in China Multiplayer and single-player video games