Genre: Strategy

Format: CD

Developer: Paradox Entertainment

Mac Port: Virtual Programming

Mac Publisher: MacPlay

Minimum System Requirements: 333MHz PowerPC, Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X, 128MB RAM. Mac OS 9 version requires DrawSprocket 1.7.6, Input Sprocket 1.7.3 and Quicktime 4.0

Review Computer: 800MHz iMac, 256MB RAM, GeForce 2 MX, Mac OS X v10.2.8

Network Feature: No

Price: $29.99

ESRB Rating: N for Nazis (unrated)

Availability: Now

Official Website: [url=http://www.heartsofiron-game.com]http://www.heartsofiron-game.com[/url]

Do you remember when your family got Monopoly? If you could read at the time, you'd have unfolded the instructions, and there, smack dab in the first paragraph, was this statement:

"The easiest way to learn to play Monopoly is from someone who already
knows how."

And then you think, "Uh-oh... this is going to be hard."

And then there's a game like Axis and Allies, which is a game you only learn if someone else teaches you. It's a cultish thing...kind like, well, Macintosh.

And here we have Hearts of Iron, which is very much a computer version of Axis and Allies. Oh, Solace tried to lay claim to that title, but it's but a pretender. HOI (even the acronym says "macho") contains more elements of A&A; both are relentlessly technical games of strategy and planning set in World War II where players have to keep track not only of troop strength, but of production facilities, territory, and research.

And Hearts of Iron has a timer.

Some background. There was, many years back, a war where we not only didn't have to worry about hurting the feelings of our enemy, we were actually sure we were in the right. And what's more, we were. The Allies—Britain, Russia and America—were, well, allied, against the forces of Germany, Japan and Italy, known as the Axis because it started with an "A" and wasn't a homonym for "allies." The Axis forces were led by mad dictators and the greatest monster in history. You can choose to play as them. You freak.

The basic premise of the game is to take as much land as possible, using your land and air forces to crush your enemies, see them scattered before you, and hear the lamentations of the women. You'll need to build an army, of course, but it's never as simple as that, is it? First there is the matter of having the materials necessary to build an army, and HOI measures that in terms of coal, oil, steel, supplies, and rubber, and also in terms of Industrial Capacity (IC), which is a measure of your ability to produce. You can also, indeed, must also funnel some of your resources into research, which will give you better equipment than your foes...unless they beat you to it.

But we've been through all this before, haven't we? Warcraft, Myth, Myst—well, not Myst—but a lot of games are built on the premise of building better and better forces and managing resources. So, what does Hearts of Iron bring to the game? Well, there's the historical factor, which will appeal to some. There is the level of complexity—we're talking a Civilization-esque learning curve, one for which both the manual and the tutorials are completely unable to prepare you for. In fact, that may be the most apt description for HOI: It's the Civilization of RTS games. Learning its subtleties and nuances may take you weeks, and for the people who click with this sort of game, those hours will fly by. But, for those who like to grab a game and go, it will be unplayable. And, given the level of complexity, I'm not sure the game pays off. Unlike Civilization, there's no sense of building a culture throughout the ages. It is, ultimately, all focused on building a better army. You can download different scenarios to play, but they are all ultimately military in solution, lacking the "peaceful" solutions of Civ 3 and Alpha Centauri.

Graphically, the game is unimpressive...all the cool bits take place in your head. The main playing area of the game is a map, with little icons representing the armies and resources. Once you've built up what you feel to be an appropriate army, balancing brute force with technological improvements, you'll learn to coordinate mass attacks. All told, the game is a very, very complicated game of Risk.

Boy, I could have boiled the whole review down to just that, eh?

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