Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday

Doomsday is a lot of game for 20 bucks. It includes the original Hearts of Iron II, with its sophisticated simulation of the Second World War. Then this expanded version adds another half-dozen years and new strategic options. So it has something for everyone, or at least anyone interested in Paradox’s deep historical strategy games. Doomsday does nothing to make the game itself more intuitive or appealing to those who don’t have the fever. But for those who do, Doomsday has enough to make the entire package stronger.
The expanded time frame takes you into the early years of the Cold War. A new superpower war scenario opens with a nuclear strike on Moscow and puts the Western Allies on the defensive from there on out. The years beyond 1947 include the possibility of creating Israel in the Middle East or liberating Korea. The added years also mean more technology is explored.
The time-line still seems to end arbitrarily. There is nothing special about 1953, and you can find yourself in the early stages of an anti-Communist war and then run out of time. There is no easy solution to this problem, but the addition of more years just makes you eager for another decade to keep democracy on the march.
The most important addition is the new intelligence system. One of the flaws of Hearts of Iron was that you always knew the total composition of your enemies’ armies via the information panel. Now your information is imperfect, but you can send spies to keep you abreast of their research and production priorities. You have a range of subversion activities, too, but spies are most useful for getting the dirt on your enemies.
None of these additions radically alter what is already a good game. Patches had already significantly improved the core game, and Divided Nation is just the cherry on top of a cheesecake of world conflict.

This article originally appeared in Computer Games Magazine #189