It is amazing that one
decision, simple or major, can change your life. For Sovereign Nations, that one
decision can affect the entire course of history for them, and the rest of the
world. Hearts of Iron Platinum will give you a glimpse into what life could be
like if simple decisions were not made or changed. For instance, you can play as
the Japanese and right after Pearl Harbor go into the USA soil with land unit
and see if you can take them out, or instead of attacking America attack another
country. If you wish you could even see if you could make history repeat itself,
it is all up to you.
It is hard to define what type of strategy game Hearts of Iron Platinum is.
While the game is set in real time, it is nothing like Age of Empires. This game
allows you to pause live action to quickly give your units new orders, do some
diplomatic direction, or do something else that any other world leader might do.
Even though you can pause live action, and is not truly realtime, it allows you
to deal with a great deal of micromanagement, which will help you in the long
run to successfully become the victor in the war.
Unlike most strategy games, where all you have to deal with is resource
management and warfare, in this game there is much more to worry about keeping
up with. In many RTS games players have the ability to be diplomatic about many
different things, but they always feel really shallow. In this game, diplomacy
can be very crucial to your survival. Combine that with all of the different
political factions that you can be, democracy, communism, and others, you can
influence other countries to change their political system to better suit
yourself, and create stronger alliances. On the flip side it can also get you in
more trouble with other nations.
Time to move out!
There is a wide variety of different types of military units that you can use in
this game. First of all the Army units are divided into many different types
such as Infantry, Marines, Cavalry, any many more. Next are the air units such
as fighters, bombers, and transport planes. Finally you have the Naval units to
fight in the oceans. You will have access to Destroyers, Submarines,
Battleships, as well as many others. Each of these unit types will be very
useful during any given battle; the only thing you have to find out is which one
is best for each situation.
Just like in most strategy games, Hearts of Iron Platinum offers a technology
tree, to make different advances in many different fields. If you have ever
played Age of Empires then you will know what to expect, since this will show
you what you have to research in order to research the next item. So if you
really want to have nuclear capabilities, there will be a certain path that you
will have to take in order to get it, and hope that no other nations, especially
enemies, will do the exact same thing.
One of the most interesting things that this game offers is called dissent,
which can cause the people to turn against you and possibly lead a rebellion.
There are many factors that affect this. One of the major factors is if there is
not enough food for your nation to eat. If you are not taking care of your own
nation, why should they back you in your war against the world? If your people
have enough food in their bellies, and are generally happy, then they will be
behind you more and you will have less problems to deal with later on down the
line. You can reduce dissent by random and real events that happen throughout
history, or increase customer goods production.
Hearts of Iron Platinum was one of the hardest games that I have played in a
while. The AI for the game is not what is hard, but the learning curve to
understand how to do anything is a killer. The game provides a nice tutorial
mode, but even after you complete this, your head will still be spinning the
first time through an actual campaign. After you do get past the steep learning
curve you will be in for a big surprise on how much there is to do in this game,
and how fun it truly is.
The only way to be ahead in this world is to have the best technology.
Hearts of Iron Platinum will not win any awards for the best-looking strategy
game. The reason for this is that all you will see throughout the whole game is
a flat world map. You can change views to see all of the political, terrain,
economic, and other helpful map viewing modes. While in these modes you will see
details about each province in the world, with the help of vivid colors. To help
you view the entire world you have the ability to zoom in and out of the map to
get a closer look at what is going on. All of the different units are
represented by simple icons that have very little animation. You will not want
this game if you are only interested in how a game looks, as you will be very
disappointed.
The audio in this game is a mixed bag. On one hand you have very generic and
uninspired sounds that you have heard in numerous other games. The sounds are
often repeated so many times that you will want to turn your speakers off and
listen to some of your favorite MP3s. The only thing preventing you from doing
this is how awesome the musical score is. The game features many classical music
titles that really brings you into the atmosphere of that time period. This game
features over two hours of music from famous composers such as Tchaikovsky.
Needless to say that the music that you will hear while playing this game will
have you motivated to continue to beat down other nations.
Hearts of Iron Platinum is rated E for Everyone.
The system requirements are:
AMD/Pentium III 300 MHz or better
64 MB of RAM
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
DirectX 8.1
2 MB of VRAM
120 MB of Hard Drive Space
4X CD-ROM
Keyboard and Mouse.
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Gameplay: 8.5
Hearts of Iron
Platinum takes a while to get used to, but once you do get a hold of it, you
will be in for a nice ride!
Graphics: 6.0
Hearts of Iron Platinum will not win any awards for best looking game on the PC.
Sound: 8.5
The music selection for this game is really well done. It really brings you into
the whole atmosphere of this time period. The sound effects on the other hand
are not up to par, as they all sound very generic and uninspired.
Difficulty: Medium
Hearts of Iron Platinum will offer you a lot of different challenges, but after
you get over the steep learning curve, you will be in for a nice ride.
Concept: 8.7
This was the first game that goes into this much depth regarding World War II.
It is staggering to know how much you can and will do in this game. For
different technology advancements to many other factors that make this game feel
extremely real.
Multiplayer: 8.6
The game offers some multiplayer via, LAN, IP, or connect to Valkyrienet which
is the game’s matchmaking service.
Overall: 8.6
Hearts of Iron Platinum is one of the most in depth strategy games I have ever
played. There is so much to do in this game it is baffling, no matter what your
WWII fantasy scenario might be you can just about live it out while playing this
game.
