My experience with the HOI series started when I got the very first HoI 1 as a present from my wife. I never could get my self quite into it, but it was due to my lack of time I guessed and not the game it self. I decided to keep it and wait for better times... Eventually the series progressed and before I found the time to pull my old HoI 1 game out of the shelf, I came across HoI II and purchased it. I decided to finally learn the game concept, particularly since I was becoming a little tired of the traditional game concepts and strategy games like Age of Empires. Once I got the concept, I was hooked, and today it is one of my favourites. One of my sons managed to learn HoI 2 before I could snap my fingers and today it is a clear favourite for us on any lazy Sunday afternoon and a few hours of multiplay ahead.
The good: Deep and rewarding with many details. Luckily you can set the trade agreements and production sliders to auto-manage in the Doomsday expansion pack. Lots of atmosphere and a special music score (for some reason the opening always reminds me of the TV series "red dwarf"). Historically you get a sence of playing "what if"-scenarios and that you actually change history. You can plan strategically and set your plans into action and feel like a real armchair general - perhaps ending up with a communist England... With all the very impressive 3D games around, the game feels actually a bit relaxing with the rather simple 2D graphics.
The bad: I could wish for better support for my laptop's wide screen resolution (as the Paradox developers have done in the Europa Universalis-series).
Other Helpful Reviews for Hearts of Iron Anthology
As it seems nobody has written a review of this yet so I will post a quick write-up. This is a single DVD collection of all games of the Paradox HoI series up to the Armageddon add-on, neatly packaged in a nice box and... Read Full Review
HoI II is a game I find myself coming back to over and over again. Many games promise 'replayability' but in reality you are just going through the same story again maybe with new items or abilities. In HoI II you are in... Read Full Review
