OK, so I am waiting for my copy of Hearts of Iron 2 to arrive, and I can’t take it. The thing is, I’m not sure why I am so excited. It’s not like the original was amazing or anything. I mean, it was good for what it was, but the more I played it the less fun I had. I liked it enough at first to give it a positive review at Zengamer, but the quick turnaround time required there led to betray my better instincts. As I played more, it became apparent that the AI simply wasn’t up to the job of managing a world war.

By the sound of things, though, Paradox has fixed a lot of the issues with HoI via a near complete overhaul of some of the games most frustrating parts. I didn’t mind the research tree; I thought it was deep, rewarding and multi-branched. Many others thought it was chaotic and nonsensical. (Parts of it were. Why I had to research tank chassis and guns separately was never abundantly clear.) Air and naval power called for a lot of micromanagement. The industrial scheme was absurd. Et cetera.

But the new and improved HoI2 is supposedly the best thing the Swedish masters have done since Europa Universalis 2. Considering the middling to poor offerings since then, it’s not that high a bar to meet, frankly. Still, I am hearing such good things that I can’t help getting enthused about the thing.

Since I am reviewing it for a media outlet, I won’t post too many comments specifically about it until the review is in the hopper. You will know that I am playing it though, and I may even most a little after action report if I get sucked into a MP game.