What is Hearts Of Iron IV
Hearts of Iron IV is a global strategy game released in 2016 and the fourth installment in the Hearts of Iron series. Like its predecessors, it was developed and published by the Swedish company Paradox Interactive. This part of the Hearts of Iron series also deals with the Second World War. Accordingly, the game offers two scenarios that start in 1936 and 1939.
Hearts of Iron 4 asks one question above all else: what if? Because the Second World War in particular offers room for speculation like hardly any other epoch. What if the democratic world had recognized the full extent of German ambitions early on? What would Europe look like today had the Third Reich not attacked the Sovie Union or even defeated them? What if the Allies landed in Normandy as early as 1942, the Japanese never attacked Pearl Harbor, the French become communist?
All this is and much more is possible. You can conquer the world with Albania if you try hard enough ;)
Conquer the whole world. Even a day and night cycle is present
The Paradox Interactive Formula
If you have ever played a game from Paradox (e.g. Stellaris, Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings) then you know what you are letting yourself into: deep deep game mechanics.
Dozens of packed menus, incomprehensoible values, opaque contexts and hardly a guideline to cling to. Even the short tutorial raises more questions than it solves, and brazenly refers to the built-in Wiki. And indeed: if you want to understand this game, you can hardly avoid trips to the encyclopedia or YouTube. So that you don't end up as helpless as I did after the tutorial. Because what if ... players who are put off by numbers and statistics missed an incredibly gripping experience here?
Ah yes... this was the information I was looking for. Or... was it?
Ressources And Troops
Resources are generated exclusively through the ownership of territories and trade with other states. If we start as Germany, we have basically endless amounts of steel. But what you lack most of all is oil and rubber, which you have to buy from allies or neutral states - not with money, but in exchange for the production output of some civilian factories. You are not allowed to specifically sell our own raw materials; instead, your country generally exports a certain percentage of all resources - including those that youe need urgently yourself.
In the »Recruit and deploy« menu, you issue orders for the training of new divisions, to which the game automatically assigns equipment and soldiers. New combat units (which can also be deployed in an unfinished state), however, make no sense if your production can hardly meet the demand of our existing troops; because they constantly consume material in battles.
Onwards To The Battle!
Once you have understood the basic controls, you can finally venture into your first war. But that wants to be carefully prepared. With a planning tool, you assign your troops certain front sections by "drawing" them on the map. The divisions are then automatically distributed on these front lines, now you can also use the map brush to assign them a line of attack to which they should advance.
The AI then ensures that your front always remains closed, withdraws troubled units and advances independently if you give it appropriate orders. At the same time, you can also control each unit manually and correct errors in the AI. Because they happen from time to time. It is particularly annoying when the computer general moves units to the front by "strategic relocation" - which, however, reduces the organizational value of these units to zero. Means: attacking enemies overrun them immediately.
A strategic overview...
...and detailed planning are required to be successfull
The Research Moloch
Last but not least, there is the research menu. In contrast to Hearts of Iron 3, in which you could theoretically initiate any number of research projects at the same time, now only four are allowed (with a corresponding focus five). There are still dedicated research trees for infantry, artillery, tanks, airplanes, ships, technology and industry, they enable a variety of research possibilities.
The concrete effect, the actual advantage of one model over another, however, often remains nebulous: Are jets really better than classic prop airliners or do I not need them at all - at least not in my current situation?
In addition, there are the doctrine research trees with which you develop special strategies for land, air and sea that are based on historical approaches. The Soviet Union, for example, starts with a doctrine tree that specializes in mass attacks, but which can also be changed if necessary.
Only a cut out of the huge research trees that are ingame
Conclusion
It's not particularly pretty, insanely complex and a horror for beginners. Like almost every global strategy title from Paradox. But if you take it seriously and with a lot of genre experience, the judgment has to be a little more nuanced.
Hearts of Iron 4, unfolds an unbelievable pull in its best moments. You sit down at your PC before dusk and as soon as you look up from the screen, it is somehow light again outside. In addition, there are again an infinite number of numerical values and possibilities that on the one hand make it impossible to start the game without wiki or videos and on the other hand enthusiasts will have their great joy.
But Hearts of Iron 4 stands a little between the fronts for me. On the one hand there are genre beginners for whom the game will be too complicated, and on the other hand there are series veterans for whom it cannot be complex enough. It would be wrong to somehow call Hearts of Iron 4 "easy", but anyone who thinks of conquering the whole world in a Europa Universalis 4 could actually be underchallenged after the first round. Because at the end of the day the AI doesn't work together well enough for that, and the tried and tested formula “bigger equals stronger” outshines the game even more than in Paradox's sister products. But in the end this is complaining at a high level. Hearts of Iron 4 is another hundreds of hours of fun.
Tip:
The game is currently on sale for 9.99€ On Steam
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What's the matter? :)
Nice