Customer Reviews

Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday Expansion Pack

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a huge fan of Paradox Interactive. These guys make the perfect games for history geeks like me. Gloriously complex, very playable, with the smack of verisimilitude. Hours of pleasure..

I started war-gaming twenty-five years ago, when I was just a kid in grade school- the Old Avalon Hill era. Hexagon boards, dice, fat rulebooks and hundreds of cardboard unit chits. And far too few fellow geeks to play with. A.H. put out a strategic level European/Mediterranean theatre game called Third Reich. I loved that game. I played WWII out with my little brother, or by playing all factions myself, hundreds of times. Ah, the good old days..

But wait, no. The sepia tones fade to a harsh, merciless grey. I've played HoI2, and this new hyper charged "Doomsday" revision of that glorious game. And there is no comparison. This is Third Reich beatified and transfigured. To heck with the old days.

With HoI2 you can begin campaign play in 1936, 1938, 1939, 1941, or 1944. The diplomatic and military situation being as it was historically at each date. You can play any country in the world - any major power (Germany, U.K., U.S.A., U.S.S.R., France, Italy, Japan) or a lesser power such as Australia, S. Africa, Canada, Brazil, Turkey or Spain, etc. Or you can even play a minor country like Bhutan or Costa Rica - even though they have very little economic, scientific, diplomatic, political, or as a result, military power. Still, if you want to attempt world conquest with say Nicaragua, Switzerland, Tibet or Siam, you are free to.

There are also minor scenarios where you can play out Barbarossa, the Invasion of Poland, Japan in China, the Spanish Civil War, a hypothetical war between Argentina & Brazil, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Ardennes offensive (Battle of the Bulge).. you get the idea. I'm solely a 1936 campaign game man, myself, though, so I can't speak to the quality of the scenarios.

In the original HoI2 campaigns all end in 1947. Which often cuts the game short while things are still very interesting (Hitler played a very stupid HoI2 game- I mean, taking on the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. simultaneously? While the U.K. is still kicking? Don't you be so stupid. Things could've gone on so much longer.. 988 years longer, vielleicht?) So 1947 is too early an end date.

This new Doomsday expansion corrects that. The new end date is 1953 (the year of Stalin's death.) And a new "Doomsday" scenario is added, beginning in 1945 with Germany defeated. Europe is divided between the Comitern and Allies, and they're at war. Dr. Strangeglove is in the house, ya'll. Yeeehaw!

Armageddon aside, the glory of HoI2 Doomsday is that you can start in 1936, and play through 1953, and absolutely anything can happen. Early Cold War, or Axis world domination, whatever. I mean, you can do all sorts of interesting things (especially if you use the F12 cheatcode "freedom" to change the political conditions of your country more quickly than would otherwise be allowed - Germany can be made communist, the U.S. fascist or communist, the U.S.S.R. a democracy - and all international alliances and national leaders will change..)

The economic and technological aspects of this game are very good- the tech tree is pretty complex, and every country- even the little ones - has a bevy of historic industrial firms and technicians (e.g., Germany has I.G. Farben, Krupp, Siemens, Junkers, Porsche, Rheinmetal, Mauser and individuals such as Guderian, Udet, Goering, Von Braun, Heisenburg, Von Manstein, Raeder, etc. the U.S. has Ford, Raytheon, Oppenheimer, McDonnell Douglas, Nimitz, etc.) who are assigned different tech/doctrinal projects. You can choose to pursue certain lines of technology, and military doctrine and ignore others, try to research them earlier than they were historically, etc.

Economically, each country has an factory industrial base which determines how many units you can produce or support, and which must be fed resources. Resources are obtained by controlling their geographic sources, or through trade with countries who have surplus resources.

Militarily, this is a division level game. The units are assigned historical names and designations (1st Panzer Division, 101st Airborne, K.M.S. Bismarck, U.S.S. Lexington, etc.) You organize them into corps and armies, and fleets. Every unit has a historical commander whom you can reassign and promote, with his own unique skills (Patton, Rommel, Monty, Yamamoto- the whole gang's here.)

Politically and diplomatically you can pick your governmental cabinet. If you dislike your head of state, you can gradually over time manipulate the political & economic climate of your society so that he is replaced. (or you can use the cheat code I mentioned to do it instantaneously.) The U.S., for example, has its historic elections, and F.D.R. can be defeated.. how about a Landon or Wilkie administration?

The axes of your political and economic culture that you can manipulate over time are these: Right/Left, Democratic/Authoritarian, Open/Closed Society, Free Market/Centrally Planned Economy, Standing/Drafted Army, Hawk/Dove, Interventionist/Isolationist. All choices here effect your game play.

One other major change in Doomsday from the original is that they've added an espionage tab to your menu.. you send spies to check out your enemies and neighbors, and get partial and less than fully accurate information instead of HoI2's omniscient all army/navy/air force comparison charts. More realistic, methinks. You also get an idea of what they are researching, which is a nice improvement. Your spies can attempt other missions (assassinate leaders, sabotage projects, foment partisan revolt, etc.) Overall, an improvement, I think.

The A1 is solid, and will usually throw up a challenge. The program is pretty stable, and Paradox is very good about patches and support. Check out Paradox's web forum [..]

In sum: the game is a excellent one. If you play a major power, and stick to the historical script, the war will quite often fall out more or less as things actually did. But what's the fun of that? You could, instead, say, skip Pearl Harbor and take and send the Japanese Imperial Army into Russia instead of China. Or, you could play the U.S. and realize her manifest destiny by conquering all the Americas.. Or you could truly challenge yourself and attempt wide conquest with a middling power such as Turkey, Spain, Nationalist China, Brazil, or Canada.. or try to prosper with even a much smaller power such as Ireland, or a Latin American country like Guatemala. Be creative.

Five plus stars. Buy this game if it sounds at all interesting to you.

To call Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday anything but the best strategic-level WW2 era wargame on the market today would be a crime.

The game allows players to command almost any country of their choosing and guide them through the period of 1936 to 1953. `Doomsday' is actually a stand-alone product, and so while it only adds a few new elements and changes a few others from HOI2, it isn't a traditional `expansion pack' in the sense that Frozen Throne is to Warcraft III. The big change from HOI2 is that a new espionage element is added, allowing players more control over spying aspects of the game. This helps the game slide more easily into the cold war era, which is the focus of Doomsday.

For those unfamiliar with the Hearts of Iron series, control in Doomsday is granted over more than simply military forces, and the player has complete control over the nation of their choice's industrial, political, and ideological direction. The level of detail is astounding, with each country having politicians, military leaders and research specialists available to use that were actually active during the period. Players can even name individual ships and divisions to their liking, and promote or demote commanders and replace key cabinet members as they see fit, all with differing consequences. And while the game is very event-driven, it has the flexibility to allow variations from what happened historically while still keeping within the general capabilities of the player's country. For instance, if a German player wanted to build a strong carrier fleet, it can be done. The game is also highly customizable, and almost any element (literally) of the game can be molded to the players liking.

At the heart of any true wargame though is it's A.I., and for a game of this size and scope, Doomsday does an admirable job. Not to say everything that the computer does always makes sense, but it certainly does make playing the game fun and gives players quite a challenge in the process. The only real complaint I have about the game is that airpower in the game still seems flat and tacked-on. The engine suits land and naval combat well enough, but air combat seems `broken' at many points, being either too weak or too strong in many areas. Another problem is that while ground units can target specific provinces for attack, air units cannot and instead attack in a general region of several provinces. And while some gamers are also quick to correctly point out that Doomsday is not an actual simulation, this is probably the closest gamers will get to a solid representation of the conflict on this scale.

My Summary:

Pros: Best game in the genre, allows near total control over almost all aspects of control. Graphics and sound are good for a game of this type, highly moddable, active mod community helps extend gameplay, stable.

Cons: May not appeal to players who dislike micromanagement, some AI issues, airpower needs work.

Summary: If you're a true wargamer and you don't own this, I have to ask what's wrong with you... However, players that already own HOI2 will have to be the judge as to if the changes are worth it to them. Those looking for something less involved but on the same scale can look to World at War or Strategic Command 2.

This is the best WWII simulator on the market. Doomsday simply updates it and provides some great user enhancements as well as a new WWIII scenario.

Be warned that this game is complicated, has a high learning curve, but as a result is extremely rewarding and fun. The AI is better than any of its competitors and can actually provide a challange for even expert users.

Anyone interested in Alternate History and wants a computer simulator to try it out should give this one a go...

Best game I have ever played - and the one game I constantly go back to after I get bored with the rest.

The expansion included the original HOI2 - and so for the cost is the best value for any game on the market.

I have been a WWII gamer since the 80's. I started with Axis & Allies as a kid, moved on to High Command (old DOS based game - phenominal), but have always searched for the ultimate WWII strategy game. One that compares to the great 'Rise and Decline of the Third Reich' board game.

I found it.

This game is the pinacle of WWII strategy games. It has everything you could ever want. Have Rommel run rupshot over the Red Army and take Moscow in 1941? Sure. Invade India as the Japanese? Why not. Forget Russia and go for the Mid-East? you get the idea....

The graphics are fine for a grand strategy game. You can also make it so the units are the traditional squares with NATO terminology. The part I like most about this game is the way you can learn it in steps. It has a couple basic tutorials where you learn what everything is. The best part is you can then start a game (in '36,'38,'39,'41... whenever!) and be Romania or Bulgaria, or even Nepal(!), and learn how to deal with everything in the game environment. Once you get good, you can start as a major player, step up the AI, and go crazy. You control EVERY stage of your nation. But you can also have the comptuer take over portions if you just care about your tanks and surrounding the russian hordes.

The greatest moment for me came when I allowed Guderian to Roll into Moscow in October of 1941 and bypass the Ukraine. This followed my triumphant paratrooper operation the year before on the white cliffs of Dover, which was followed by Operation Sealion.

You WWII buffs will appreciate this game fully. Be happy, buy the game.

This game reminds me of the old Avalon Hill board games only it automates the movements and rolling of the dice. It takes a long time to play, but if you are a fan of true strategy games, and a fan of WWII history I think you will like this game. I also own the original version and this is definitely a step up. The title is misleading because while it expands on the original version, you DO NOT need the original to play this version. My biggest draw to this game are the several "what-if" scenarios, including going to war with the Soviets right after WWII.

So may want to debate the title of this review but in terms of requiring you to consider EVERY aspect of running a nation in war, there is no other game even close to this one. Scroll down to the bottom if you just want a brief summary.

In Hearts of Iron, which came out back in 2002 or 2003, there was a game that was excellent but still lacked alot of things and the technology development was just so clustered. HOI 2 improved upon that. HOI Doomsday adds even more. I have not played HOI Apocalypse but I am sure that adds even more to this.

In this WWII strategy simulator, you get to pick which nation you control and at what point in time. You can pick pretty much any nation in the world but you'll have more fun as one of the major powers. You are required to do a balancing act between the economy, technology, the military and trading. You can manipulate the direction of your nation based on historical and random events that occur, such as as Germany, you can choose not to demand the Sudetenland or as America, you can cave in to Japan's demand for oil. You will occasionally have the ability to directly change your government in the diplomacy screen with sliders such as "Left/Right, Authoritarian/Democratic, Hawk/Dove," and so forth.

Each nation starts with their specific technology level and military strength. It will be up to you which direction you take in this area. Do you want a highly advanced Navy? You can research it but your ground and air forces might be a bit obsolete and vice versa. As some nations you will be forced to compromise on this but as others, you won't need to. For instance, as Germany, you don't really need a navy at first so you can focus on ground and air forces whereas the British need their navy to stay alive. The game is real-time though you can slow down/speed up the time. Building units takes as long as it historically would have. For instance, an Iowa Class Battleship will take a year or two depending on your economy/industrial technology level.

You can also research doctrines and strategy such as Blitzkrieg or Carpet Bombing which will improve the effectiveness, morale, and speed of units. Each nation will have a set number of research teams and these cost money. So does building units and having units. You'll also have to devote resources to the civilian economy.

When war breaks out, the strategy will be up to you. And unlike other strategy games, it is also up to you to ensure that your units are supplied. Should you invade and take some islands in the Pacific, you better create a supply route or else those units will dissolve over time. The map is divided up into regions with some regions having value points. Some of these are obvious such as national capitals or major cities. Areas with alot of resource values also have value points. It will be up to you to take your enemy's territories and gain his value points. For instance, as Germany if you invade Poland, you must take Warsaw and a few other regions in order to annex it. When the war starts and it could take any shape depending on your decisions or the random decisions of the computer, some historical decisions can be made such as whether or not to create Vichy France or to assassinate Admiral Yamamoto. The point of the game is to have more victory points than the other factions. The factions are divided up between Commintern, Axis and Allies. But again, you can drastically change the scope of the war if for instance you were to play as America, you could make it a Fascist state or a communist state and you would then have the option of joining with Nazi Germany or the USSR.

The game is a lot of fun to play and you'll find yourself playing longer than you would think as it is addictive. Researching the higher levels of technology is fun to do to see what new units are opened up. You also have the ability to send spies to other nations and can attempt to conduct various missions such as delay tech team or fund partisans though the success of this depends on your own intelligence forces and the target's intelligence forces. The game is challenging in that you must focus on all aspects. Luckily, the economic side is simple and you won't get bored with this. There are no stunning graphics but they are not really needed. This IS a game in which you'll want to play again and again, especially as different nations. Doomsday also has different scenarios in which you can play, such as the Winter War between Finland and the USSR or a fictional war in South America. As I mentioned earlier, you can play as any nation at any of the given years. This is fun to do to see if you can do better than what the historical leaders did. Will you play as America in 1936 and begin preparing for the coming war earlier? Will you play as France in 1939 and not make the mistake of relying on the Maginot Line? Will you play as Germany in 1944 and successfully repel the D-Day invasion?
Added in this game are a longer timeframe; in previous versions, the game ended on December 31st 1947. This game will end in 1953. Also added is the new "Doomsday Scenario" where in the last days of WWII, the USSR invades the West and Truman uses the A-bomb on Moscow. This is a tough scenario but very interesting in a "what-if" sense.

The game isn't perfect though and the supply system might get a little frustrating as there is seemingly little you can do to improve the supply chain to a certain area or units. Your enemies may sometimes attack one of your areas where you left it open but they seem to give little thought to overall strategy and are intent on just getting regions with victory points. Also the skill of historically great commanders such as Manstein and Eisenhower are hurt because when you promote them to a level where they can command more than one division, they lose skill levels and sometimes never earn it back unless they are in combat alot. Kind of annoying but a minor point.

Overall, this is a great game. It forces you to think about all aspects of a nation and unlike other strategy games, there is no easy "cheat" bug to take advantage of to quickly win. You may find yourself restarting the game when you realize that you completely neglected some aspect of the strategy and are now doomed to destruction. Each nation has it's strengths and weaknesses. Play this game if you like strategy games or if you like studying WWII. Think you can conquer Russia as Germany? Give it your best shot. Do you want to invade Canada and Mexico as the US, go for it! You can do whatever you want in this game but just keep in mind, your population might not agree with you, nor will other nations just stand by. Your actions will have consequences. Play this game and be prepared to spend alot of time on it!

Let me say first that I loved the original Hearts of Iron 2. It is an addictive, in-depth and exciting game that takes you through the World War II era at the helm of any country you choose. I bought Doomsday because I liked the idea of an improved and lengthened campaign. The improvements, however, weren't terribly impressive. Okay, the espiange addition was really cool. But there were only limited additional senariors. The upgraded tech tree was ho-hum. And the new way of using the Idustrial Capacity (IC) of conquered nations made conquest far more difficult. On the whole, Hearts of Iron is still an incredibly awesome game and well worth buying. If you want and extended and more challenging gameplay, you should get Doomsday.

Hearts of Iron 2 Doomsday is a worthy extension of Hearts of Iron 2, in that it maintains most of the best features while adding speculative years from 1948 to 1953. It is a strategy game that does not require a powerful video processor. It does require that you select a strategy, create a plan, and execute your plan logically throughout the game. The learning curve is steep, so do not expect to master it quickly. And, be aware that the game is addictive, so you may want to get a timer with an alarm so you don't let a two hour game period stretch to twelve hours. The game can be saved at any time and restarted at the saved point. If you really make a devastating mistake while playing against Artificial Intelligence (AI), you can go back to a previous saved point and try another approach. This process can accelerate your learning curve.

My biggest complaint is that the game tends to slow down considerably as more battles are engaged. The problem appears to be partially inherent, in that AI has to make more calculations as more battles are joined. However, it appears that powerful systems with fast processors and lots of memory sometimes run more slowly than less powerful systems. Also, it seems to run faster under Windows 2000 than Windows XP.

Overall, HOI 2 Doomsday is a thrilling and challenging game that I heartily recommend. Try it and stick with it; you will like it.

A game that you can play over and over, never the same game twice. This has to be one of the better world domination games on the market. The game has a medium learning curve, but once you get the hang of it its fun and easy. I had to start over many times when I learned something new during game play that would have help me out at an earlier stage. The only issue I have is the game editor. Maybe I just didn't find it, but no instructions on how to use it. It is an awesome utility but tricky to figure out. No previous versions required to play this game it is a full game not just and expansion

All they could do to improve this game is even more details. They also improved it from HOI to HOI II to Doomsday, I did em all. It takes a little while to learn the interface, but it's very ez after that. I was dissapointed at not being able to play my gaming buddy online, then I would have still been playing this game every day after 3 years, as is I still play it. If they could make this game go into squad level if u select a battle each game month and then fight it out personally if both side "select" the battle area, that would be great! Still, this is the closest to perfection I've ever had the pleasure to play, only MOO II could give HOI Doomsday any compettition only beause MOO II was ez to play onlne with many friends.