It is amazing that one decision, simple or major, can change your life. For Sovereign Nations, that one decision can affect the entire course of history for them, and the rest of the world. Hearts of Iron Platinum will give you a glimpse into what life could be like if simple decisions were not made or changed. For instance, you can play as the Japanese and right after Pearl Harbor go into the USA soil with land unit  and see if you can take them out, or instead of attacking America attack another country. If you wish you could even see if you could make history repeat itself, it is all up to you.

It is hard to define what type of strategy game Hearts of Iron Platinum is. While the game is set in real time, it is nothing like Age of Empires. This game allows you to pause live action to quickly give your units new orders, do some diplomatic direction, or do something else that any other world leader might do. Even though you can pause live action, and is not truly realtime, it allows you to deal with a great deal of micromanagement, which will help you in the long run to successfully become the victor in the war.

Unlike most strategy games, where all you have to deal with is resource management and warfare, in this game there is much more to worry about keeping up with. In many RTS games players have the ability to be diplomatic about many different things, but they always feel really shallow. In this game, diplomacy can be very crucial to your survival. Combine that with all of the different political factions that you can be, democracy, communism, and others, you can influence other countries to change their political system to better suit yourself, and create stronger alliances. On the flip side it can also get you in more trouble with other nations.

Time to move out!

There is a wide variety of different types of military units that you can use in this game. First of all the Army units are divided into many different types such as Infantry, Marines, Cavalry, any many more. Next are the air units such as fighters, bombers, and transport planes. Finally you have the Naval units to fight in the oceans. You will have access to Destroyers, Submarines, Battleships, as well as many others. Each of these unit types will be very useful during any given battle; the only thing you have to find out is which one is best for each situation.

Just like in most strategy games, Hearts of Iron Platinum offers a technology tree, to make different advances in many different fields. If you have ever played Age of Empires then you will know what to expect, since this will show you what you have to research in order to research the next item. So if you really want to have nuclear capabilities, there will be a certain path that you will have to take in order to get it, and hope that no other nations, especially enemies, will do the exact same thing.

One of the most interesting things that this game offers is called dissent, which can cause the people to turn against you and possibly lead a rebellion. There are many factors that affect this. One of the major factors is if there is not enough food for your nation to eat. If you are not taking care of your own nation, why should they back you in your war against the world? If your people have enough food in their bellies, and are generally happy, then they will be behind you more and you will have less problems to deal with later on down the line. You can reduce dissent by random and real events that happen throughout history, or increase customer goods production.

Hearts of Iron Platinum was one of the hardest games that I have played in a while. The AI for the game is not what is hard, but the learning curve to understand how to do anything is a killer. The game provides a nice tutorial mode, but even after you complete this, your head will still be spinning the first time through an actual campaign. After you do get past the steep learning curve you will be in for a big surprise on how much there is to do in this game, and how fun it truly is.

The only way to be ahead in this world is to have the best technology.

Hearts of Iron Platinum will not win any awards for the best-looking strategy game. The reason for this is that all you will see throughout the whole game is a flat world map. You can change views to see all of the political, terrain, economic, and other helpful map viewing modes. While in these modes you will see details about each province in the world, with the help of vivid colors. To help you view the entire world you have the ability to zoom in and out of the map to get a closer look at what is going on. All of the different units are represented by simple icons that have very little animation. You will not want this game if you are only interested in how a game looks, as you will be very disappointed.

The audio in this game is a mixed bag. On one hand you have very generic and uninspired sounds that you have heard in numerous other games. The sounds are often repeated so many times that you will want to turn your speakers off and listen to some of your favorite MP3s. The only thing preventing you from doing this is how awesome the musical score is. The game features many classical music titles that really brings you into the atmosphere of that time period. This game features over two hours of music from famous composers such as Tchaikovsky. Needless to say that the music that you will hear while playing this game will have you motivated to continue to beat down other nations.

Hearts of Iron Platinum is rated E for Everyone.

The system requirements are:
AMD/Pentium III 300 MHz or better
64 MB of RAM
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
DirectX 8.1
2 MB of VRAM
120 MB of Hard Drive Space
4X CD-ROM
Keyboard and Mouse.

Gameplay: 8.5
Hearts of Iron Platinum takes a while to get used to, but once you do get a hold of it, you will be in for a nice ride!

Graphics: 6.0
Hearts of Iron Platinum will not win any awards for best looking game on the PC.

Sound: 8.5
The music selection for this game is really well done. It really brings you into the whole atmosphere of this time period. The sound effects on the other hand are not up to par, as they all sound very generic and uninspired.

Difficulty: Medium
Hearts of Iron Platinum will offer you a lot of different challenges, but after you get over the steep learning curve, you will be in for a nice ride.

Concept: 8.7
This was the first game that goes into this much depth regarding World War II. It is staggering to know how much you can and will do in this game. For different technology advancements to many other factors that make this game feel extremely real.

Multiplayer: 8.6
The game offers some multiplayer via, LAN, IP, or connect to Valkyrienet which is the game’s matchmaking service.

Overall: 8.6
Hearts of Iron Platinum is one of the most in depth strategy games I have ever played. There is so much to do in this game it is baffling, no matter what your WWII fantasy scenario might be you can just about live it out while playing this game.