I really love this game, it has an much better working spy system, and the autotrade is a blessing compared to earlier versions. I already played it a lot and the multiplayer also works fine. Still hard to master though, so when your a noob, dont forget to check the manual!

Another Hearts of Iron 2 successor, AoD adds many new things to our old paradox favorite. Most important addition is the brand new supply system which adds tons of realism at the cost of some speed, but of course it doesn't end just with this one addition. There are also tons of other things such as new stand ground (victory or valhalla) order, more techteams, techteams can gain skills etc.

The game itself feels pretty much complete with the latest patch and can easily recommended to all HoI2 fans, though the price is a bit high.

Was a big fan of this, really offered some great features that I quite enjoyed. For some reason it ran a bit sluggisly on my computer, but I doubt that is a common issue and should not affect your decision to buy this game. I would say buy it if you enjoy others in the hearts of iron series.

Arsenal of Democracy, or AOD is an excellent addition to the Hearts of Iron family of games. The game itself in compasses all of Hearts of Iron as well as it's add ons. It also has a lot of neat new content including some new AI, a new model for for money/uses for money, and new technologies like heavy submarines. It's really awesome! Get it now!

Better interface and system than hoi2 series. But some player's cheat is restricted. This make the pros and cons. If you don't worry about that, you should buy. I like it.

Arsenal of Democracy started out as a great addition with the ability to develop nuclear power and synthetic oil plants. However combat is where the game falters. there are incredibly massive armies where over 100 divisions can wind up in combat over one province, which is incredibly unrealistic and frustrating, as the Field Marshals can only command as many as 12 divisions effectively. The game would prefer to produce tons of militia to end up in a pure pushing battle instead of a strategic battle. I do not recommend this expansion.

To me this is the mature HoI II-game, and better than HoI III in one way - it's better if you want a ww II grand strategy game without to much focus on individual units. It's also possible to play on very low-end computers :-)

Great features added, but a lot of what ought to have been improved (ie the map) wasn't, and the lack of optimization makes it sluggish. Okay, especially modded, but if you've already played a lot of HOI2/Arma and played it to death with the old map, it'll still make your eyes bleed.

Arsenal of Democracy is a great WWII strategy game. Anyone who played HOI2 and its expansions will be in familiar territory here; AOD isn't a vast departure from its HOI2 ancestor, but it makes some minor changes in some very important areas.

The differences aren't immediately apparent upon launching the game, but AOD tweaks and rebalances a lot more than it adds, although it does add a bit. Missions, trade, espionage, and production all receive some attention (especially the new and improved espionage system). Units are recruited faster and battles last longer, which leads to more fluid reinforcement and more meaningful strategic decision-making.

In the end, this game is easy to recommend to anyone who enjoyed HOI2 or anyone who'd like a "simpler" version of HOI3.

This adds a lot of extra depth to the HoI II Doomsday/Armageddon. The addition of synthetic oil/material plants makes a real strategic bombing campaign over Germany possible. Excellent for RTS fans.

Simply the best WWII simulation game out there. The management of the resources and unit are wonderful.

This game can take a lot of your time for just planning where to send your tanks and how to start your campaign.

This game improve HOI II to a new level.

Highly recommend for strategy fan. It may confusing at the start but it pays off.

Its a very realistic and complex ww2 game. But you have every option you wish. You can play the game totaly unhistoric - with all consequences.

I've been a long time fan of paradox games, and the Hearts of Iron series in particular. Arsenal of Democracy is the ultimate version of HoI2, having the most well thought out features and best gameplay of any game in the HoI series. It is much better than the disappoint that HoI3 was and still is. Even after its many patches and expansions, I find HoI3 far less enjoyable than the older HoI2.5 variants, such as Arsenal of Democracy. As such I can not recommend any game more than in the Hearts of Iron Series higher than Arsenal of Democracy!

Basically HOI2 with the ability to research way too many technologies at once. As a result, you will run out of technologies to research by the time WWII starts. Takes away the challenge in my opinion.

Excellent. A substantial improvement of the original game. A must for fans of the series.

This add on to hearts of iron 2 was much needed during hearts of iron 3's trials and tribulations. The game is much more difficult and really punicshes you for building super stacks. Combinded arms with planes is also needed for the decisive win during battles.

Only downfall was one of the later patches which allows you to promote a leader without losing skill which means everything forementioned can besubverted and u can play with superstacks. Stick to version 1.4.

An excellent game with many additions to the original Hoi 2.

It is standalone, so you can only own this if you want to enter the Hearts of Iron 2 world.

The addition of the "scorched earth" and "valhalla or victory" tactics are not only clever, but quite useful too.

The game speed has been improved vastly, especially after the latest patches.

Concerning the supply system, it has become much more realistic , as well as the production of new units, especially the ability to triple the rate at which the production operates, which is a very usefull addition to the players who want units quickly on the field.

The only drawback is the speed of learning. The HOI series do not help the newcomers, and ''Arsenal of Democracy'' doesn't seem to break the row. However, I do not find this fact an apalling one enough for a rate less than five stars.

Enjoy your game!

Arsenal of Democracy (AoD) is a modification of Hearts of Iron 2 (HOI2) made by fans. HOI2 is an excellent game based on ww2. Other good mod-games are Iron Cross or Darkest Hour. Arsenal of Democracy allows you to config your screen resolution, fix the annoying slide bars issue, improve production, research, etc. I already own this game in Steam but I also bought it here because it was cheap and because I can patch the game up to 1.07 version (In steam the last version is 1.05, I ignore why). Both copies cost me less than 10 euros so it was a good deal. This game is enjoyable an replayable. I play AoD as the US, Republic Spain, UK and now I am playing as the Communist China. Every country is different. Great game!

AoD is a great game for HOI2 fans, adding more from Arma and Doomsday. However, there are some drawbacks, and more patches are needed for the game.

Hearts of Iron II (and its mods) are a jewel for every strategy gamer.

But Arsenal of Democracy is far better, than the vanilla version or rather HoI2:Doomsday.

Especially the new spy system is alone worthy enough to buy this game, beside of many other changes.

It is a must to buy it!

Well everyone who has played HOI2 should not miss this modification or addon or whatewer you could call it.

It is pretty similar to the original game but the pace of the game is a lot faster. Especially the technology development is very fast. So fast that you can expect to get problems, because of too many unit improvement technologies researched (already in early 1937). But it has a good side if you play as germany or prussia in abyss scenario that you get a lot of money so that you can buy necessary ressources from other states.

I think that is what HOI should be in comparison to that mediocre HOI3 that I also own and is a real pain in the butt when you play it.

Arsenal of Democracy improves a lot over Doomsday and Armageddon, by introducing new features like dedicated buildings to convert resources or something close to EU3's National ideas and an improved supply system.

However in my opinion it looses out against Darkest Hour, which is much, much faster both in running and saving a game.

I haven't spend any more time with any other game of the HOI-Series than with this one.

Combined with the CORE mod the new features like working autosliders, new economy model, combat mechanics and so on really bring the old HOI2 engine to a new level of playability.

Many reviews compared it to HOI3, however there is one thing HOI3 has not achieved compared to AoD - immersion.

An excellent edition to the Hearts of Iron line of games. It uses the expanded timeline to make new scenarios, as well as overall improvements on Hearts of Iron II DD Armageddon. Highly recommend this as an addition to your collection of Paradox Interactive Games.

A welcome refresh of the classic Hearts of Iron II. Quite cheap too. It works better than HoI III on weaker computers like my laptop. Yet the gaming experience is not too different.

This is in my opinion what HoI2 should have been. If you haven't tried any of the HoI series, this would be a great game to start the series with.

What a great game! This is my first (and so far only) game from HoI family, and it is really polished and enjoyable!

For all beginners, I recommend to read complete manual as I first did, as game is fairly complex, but after that it gives you hours and hours of gameplay with incredible depth.

Probably one of best WWII strategies (haven't played HoI3 though).

Remember to install all patches.

If developers could pull expansion pack for this game, I would preorder it as soon is available (I don't count "Iron Cross" as real expansion as it was developed by other team).

Asenal of Democracy is a good sequel to HOI2. It takes the graphics and gameplay experience a small step closer to HOI3. It's a great strategy game and the price is reasonable. If you like HOI2 you will like AOD, but if you have experience from HOI3 it's a step back.

As someone who played Doomsday but never bothered to get Armageddon, my initial reaction to AoD is that it makes HoI2 just a little bit better in a lot of different ways, enough so that it makes a real difference.

The interface is streamlined, little things like the magical redeployment of generals have been fixed, and not so little things like surrounded troops being without supplies even though they have access to factories have been fixed too.

In essence, the game's not expensive, it's a lot of fun, and buying it means that you support guys who do this for fun, and want you to have fun as well.

I think this game is a real upgrade over HOI2. It adds some new tech flavor, adn some new units which are really cool. The AI is MUCH better and the events are scripted beaufitfully. As cheap as it is, I think this is a must buy for anyone who likes HOI2.

This is simply a fantastic game.

The possibilities of expansion, alliances, war, etc. are incredible. For example; playing as Argentina, and with German backing taking over South America and invading Mexico was a blast.

I've been playing this game for a few months now and haven't found any serious bugs (the odd graphics mess-up after long 'alt-tab'). However, the map, while working well, is lacking in any aesthetic detail. There are no real combat animations, but to be honest that isn't why anyone should purchase a game. As Arsenal of Democracy demonstrates, game play is what makes the game, not graphics.

This game may come off as a bit much, the learning curve is about 1 hour to 3 hours, but once you get past that it's nothing less than a rewarding experience.

For people who enjoy games such as these, I recommend it highly.

A worthy Heart of Iron II game. Adds a couple of interesting features such as selection of National Identity, Social Policy, Culture selection and the most important feature in my opinion: upgrading production line without having to interrupt production.

If you love grand strategy games, you will certainly love this game.

I would give it 4 stars and a half.

This game seems quite interesting but it is also incredibly difficult to learn. I have had it for about six monhs now and would like to play it, I just dont have the time or patience to learn how. I hope the clean his up a bit, there is an audience out there for games like this, but i'm not sure there are the investment it would take to build it.

Overall an excellent addition to HOI2. The technological expansion and changes to the production/upgrade system is well worth the money. This is the way the game should have been made in HOI2 to begin with. The battle dynamics and supply mechanics result in some serious flaws, though. Even with far superior quality troops, evenly matched size armies fighting will result in sometimes a week or more for a single battle. You can find yourself as Germany, with the best technological advancements, fighting tactics, etc, taking from September until January just to defeat Poland. I believe the original fighting mechanics resulted in a better outcome.

If you are fighting your way into a large landmass country, you can expect that within two to three provinces in your units will receive +0.8 (if you are lucky) regain of organization a day while the enemy, being in their own territory get much better. So good luck invading any country unless you have far superior numbers (3:1 or better), technology and you move extremely quickly. Otherwise an inferior army can stall you and wear you down until your troops are useless.

The rest of the changes to the game are amazing and are almost worth the problems above.

This was my first Hearts of Iron game, having played Victoria, Europa Universalis, and Crusader Kings before, all based more or less on the same engine. That said, this game is very similar in play to the above, though more complex, or in depth if you prefer, than those previous incarnations.

It is a real time strategy game, though you may pause at any time. Money is always an issue, and you really need to manually adjust your spending to make the most of your limited income and resources. Combat requires careful thought, as there are severe penalties for overstacking and being out of supply, while the right leaders and specialized units can really pay off.

This game is really a time leech, as playing even a small country can take an hour of real time or more to simulate a month of game time.

There were some things I didn't like, like too easy trade deals and really ahistorical alliances, but the latter does provide some amusement as well as interesting challenges. Other minor quibbles also involve the game engine itself, and is no fault of the AoD creators.

A good, addictive, and thoughtful game, not for those on a time budget or averse to micromanagement.

Wonderful! It lasted long enough, to see worthy successor of Hearts of Iron brand. Less over-complicated than Hearts of Iron III, received new level of gameplay, new techs, new, more user friendly interface, it's constantly supported by fans, so I do not see even one reason to own a copy. Buy, install and enjoy.

A great update of HOI 2. I am a huge fan of HOI 2 but never liked HOI 3 due to its gameplay and numerous issues. AODstill suffers from late game lag like HOI 2 but has numerous upgrades to tech tree and gameplay. Definately worth the price

This is the best of the bunch. Still better than HOI3. Need to play at the harder levels though since AI is up and down and will either crush you, or be a walk over. Especially AMerica and Britian if playing as axis are weak. Playing as a smaller country is also fun adn a real challenge.

Put simply, this is a more advanced version of Hearts of Iron 2.

In comparison to Hearts of Iron III the game lacks some features such as a complete command chain, custom divisions and a more in depth research system. Arsenal of Democracy does, however, compensate for this by retaining HOI2s historical feel and adding a few new features of its own, such as an overhauled production system.

Arsenal of Democracy is more of a Second World War strategy than a sandbox strategy set during the war years, as HOI3 often seems to be.

A feature I particularly enjoyed was the addition of synthetic oil and materials plants along with a requirement to invest industrial capacity to repair damaged infrastructure. Now it is possible to properly wage a strategic bombing campaign against Germany.

I got into the HoI Franchise with this game and the game is just AWESOME.

The infinite strategic possibilities and the infinite replay value make up for the 20 Bucks.

Afterall all those new strategy games are way too short

but not this one.

You won´t find fany Graphics in this game but it´s good points are elsewhere.

IF you like strategic depth and the possibility to play as almost every nation on earth [and maybe try conquer earth as th USA :)].You should also be prepared to spent a few hours to finish a single game.

You find it appealing what I reported? Then this is one of the best games you can hope to buy.

This is a fantastic Add-On for Hearts of Iron 2. A love it because it makes the game more realistic and demands all your skills. Combine it with "Iron Cross" and you will be playing für days.

One word: Outstanding.

('Phenomenal' would also apply)

This takes the tried and tested HOI2 and adds all the little things you wished were in the original.

It's reasonably stable for multiplayer as well.

Use Hamachi if you can.. or Game Ranger if that doesn't work (Game Ranger seems to cause save downloads to go slower and increases the frequency of crashes to about 1 per hour)

Well i have to say im very impressed with this game, its a great addition to the HOI franchise and well worth the purchase. its what HOI2 should of been

AoD is a great step forwards when compared to its predecessors. The new features are well thought out and bring an extra dimension of strategic thinking to the standard HoI-formula. The developers are regularly providing patches to the game based on customer feedback, which certainly shows their dedication.

If you are a HoI2 fan, I see no reason for skipping AoD. It's a great game for all WWII strategy enthusiasts.

This game is the ultimate HoI2 game for me. I have also bought HoI3, but keep coming back to Arsenal of Democracy. This game is not about graphics, but gameplay. Building up for WWII and then trying to maintain or expanding your nation. The implementation of the political ideas work great.

The tech tree, logistics system, battle system and AI are nearing perfection.

This game will certainly keep me playing the game for a long time.

Arsenal of Democracy. A game from a fine Pedigree, Hearts of Iron 2. The game takes Hearts of Iron 2 and pumps steroids into it in overdrive. Though it's not for everybody. It's a game of Grand Strategy: deep thought, slow pace, and extreme patience all come with the territory. The graphics aren't the draw, nor is the sound. Both are of good quality for what the engine is, but neither are what players are probably looking for. The gameplay is where it's at, and as I stated before... think Hearts of Iron 2 on steroids. Multiple AI fixes, and various improvements to the Intelligence/Espionage Meta-game, the Economy Management portion, and the all-important warfare. Since it's a game about WWII... obviously it's about conflict, and that's where this game shines. The system is amazing, detailing everything from morale to organization, to supplies, to massed artillery, to division types. Want infantry supported by heavy 800mm Carl Gustav Railroad Cannon? You can have it. Want Motorized Infantry blazing across the Russian Steppe supported by Tank Destroyers? You can have it. The combinations are endless. Though you'll find some countries do certain divisions better then others. Overall it's a fine gem of a game, but only for a certain niche of wannabe conquerors or defenders of freedom.

Another good add-on for HOI2 series. I have tried HOI3 but keep coming back to HOI2. AOD freshens up the game with some new research items but its a little weird giving up control of the economic sliders.

To describe the game as simply as possible: it is all the good points of HOI2:DD:Armageddon with the bad points removed. In addition to that the tech tree is much better, as are the brigade attachments available. The espionage portion has also been reworked and national ideas have been added as well.

Being a long time fun of the hole HoI series (HoI 1,2,DD,Arma,HoI3), i have to admit i was on familiar ground. Adding a number of important new ideas like national focus, AoD certainly advances the HoI franchise, refreshing the last truly playable title in the series since HoI 3 still has a long way to go, and many more patches are needed. Despite that, AoD certainly does not seem to justify the term "full game". At best, it should be characterized an important update or -rather- an excellent expansion of HoI2. Considering that, i would say it is a good purchase at this price. If you are a HoI fun, or have been considering to buy a title to introduce yourself to the series, this is the way to go!

Having played the Doomsday expansion for a long time before putting it on the shelf, AoD (Arsenal of Democracy) came as a happy reviver of the series for me.

It makes new steps and takes good use of the tools the developers got to make the game. It is one of the europa engine project, because of this it contains much new, but also much that is familiar to the veteran HoI player.

Featuring a much more challenging AI, enhanced sliders and the ability to put resolutions high (it shines at 1980x1080) it is guaranteed to give old HoI players something new to tinker with, but that might also be the game's Achilles heel.

Since it is already much new content upon an already complicated game it might, and probability is, a little to much for someone new to the series to handle, for those who look to get into the series I would much rather recommend the HoI2 complete pack or HoI 3 with Semper Fi.

Overall it is a pretty good game, but it is mainly focused on veterans.

Like others have said, if you are fan of HOI1 or 2 you will love this game. I haven't tried HOI3 so I can't comment on that. Once some of the HOI2 mods are available for Arsenal it will be an awesome game. But even without mods it is far superior to vanilla HOI2 and as good as some of the mods HOI2.

Good, but not Great (or worth 20 bucks). Don't get me wrong here, some of the new features (National Ideas, Increased Gamespeed, ability to "force through" production for a little extra IC cost, etc.) are nice, but they aren't worth the hefty price tag; nor are some of the other new features (retooling time, and the new way upgrades and IC building are handled) i advise discretion on this one.

I first game to Paradox games via HoI2 Armageddon. I played that game to death like no game before or since. I hadn't played any HoI since 2009 (with the exception of the disappointing HoI3)when I got this in the Summer and quickly got back into the game. I played games as Germany (naturally), the Soviet Union, Britain, the USA and Italy with AoD before getting tired of it. It is much more challening than basic HoI2, especially when playing as an Allied state.

For example when I played Germany I had conquered all of Europe, defeated the Soviet Union, taken the Suez and invaded Britain by March 1942. However as the Soviet Union I came within a slither of facing defeat before eventually turning things round thanks to an American invasion of France. In the end I took very little of Europe (not restoring my borders until 1945) and none of Germany. The Germans didn't fall until late 1946.

To conclude this is a big improvement on an ageing game, for all its excellent improvements the game itself is still rather old and it wasn't really a particularily new experience. 4/5

Hopefully we will one day get a true successor to HoI2, lets pray HoI4 won't continue this series' slide into oblivion.

Arsenal of Democracy is a great rts game. You can choose to lead any nation from the globe and struggle to survive through second world war. You need to manage your country economy and military forces to gain victory. And you can set your own goals in this game because there arent any.

Your military is formed from air sea and land forces. Your basic land unid is a division strength unit which can be modified with additional brigade. Sea unit is usually a single ship which can allso be modified with additional radar, aa guns, torpedos etc. Airforces consist of inteceptors, tactical bombers, strategical bombers, fighters etc. Its up to you to choose what kind of military is going to protect your country in war.

All these decisions make this game so open to different strategys and there is no single way to win or loose.

Having just finished my first successful HOI2 game as Germany, defeating the Brits with 3 paratroopers, war deccing everything in site out of boredom, encountering a 90 ship UK fleet hiding out in Nova Scotia, 1 militia unit defending NYC, and 50 US Infantry divisions playing cards on Wake Island, I was very ready for a better AI. From reading other users experiences, it looks like this game will deliver! Great job guys!!!! One suggestion:

Add some page numbers to the manual!

This game is basically Hearts of Iron II with additional features and some fixes.

If you loved HOI II and can not stop playing it OR you don't even have HOI II, I would recommend getting AoD. On the other hand, if you have HOI II but are not a huge fan of it, then you will probably be disappointed.

There are also not very many mods released for AoD but they are already working on the 4th patch.

I have always been a fan of the HOI series but AoD really takes it on a new level. This is what HOI 3 should have been.

Well this standalone addon brings some features here and there in that community cannot mod(+); another point is increased gamespeed(++); bigger game resolutions are rather not optimal(0). 20€ for content are bit to much for me.

4 of 5 stars from me

To date HOI series ranks as the best strategic RTS game for me. I enjoyed HOI2 Arma for quite a time. As the start of HOI3 was very disappointing i turned to Arsenal of Dem. and found it a vast improvement over HOI2Arma ( especially after the very timely and dedicated patches of BI-Logic). It will certainly keep me busy until i consider Semper Fi and dust of my HOI3....

Great game, good fun if you don't have HoI 2 and all the expansions already. I wouldn't advise paying full price for it though. I'd just up $10 more and get HoI 3.

This is a must to all HOI fans. This adds so much reality and depth to the game. In addition, the AI is now a bit more challenging which offers a lot more fun for the player.

While reading many reviews I did not get a clear cut convincing to buy this game over Hearts of Iron 2.

But here it is for you people who do not want to wait for HoI 3 to finally get patch love. Buy this game !

If you have played HoI2 there isnt much new to this game. They add some interesting twists that make it aittle more involved and perhaps abit more detail oriented on the production side of things. When I purchased it and played through one entire game with patch 1.03 the AI still seemed pretty glitched, and honestly I havent went back to the game due to this. I noticed a patch 1.04 has been released and I have downloaded it, but to use a day or two of my time just to find out it wasnt a decent game because the AI does totally off the wall things was annoying.

The example from my game in 1.03 was the AI stacking tons of troops in some off the wall not important location, and in the Case of American and England not even using their navy to fight the war at all. Supposedly these issues were fixed in 1.03 but obviously not as that is the edition I was playing.

Overall its still a good game and I would guess if you played one of the naval powers against Germany it would be still be playable, or against other players online. However I dont have the time for online play of that nature.

Was a good distraction of time, but the AI issues really need to be addressed before its truly a good game imo.

Indeed they've done it this time. Lots of things that could be improved, were. They took the best and made it into something even better. I still have not played any improved version of HoI3, only the first release, and as far as I am concerned 'arsenal of democracy' is more complex and balanced. Really, if you take away the 'EU3' looks of HoI3, what is left is a worse game than AoD. If you are not sure which one to buy, go with this one.

This is in my opinion the best development of the Hearts of Iron series to date. It has additional automation of otherwise tedious micromanagement and allows the player to focus on grand strategy in the military/diplomatic/economic field rather than allocating every command/spy/resource manually. Having said that players who like micromanagement can reduce automisation in most regards.

The game has a moderate to high learning curve, even for strategy gamers, but do not let this put you off as it is highly rewarding to win the game or just play as a minor country watching the heavyweights slug it out and then picking a side to fight for.

Lastly the game is reletively bug free, compared with other HOI games, and is easily modded by an active modding community.

A must have for fans of the original Hearts of Iron series.

Arsenal of Democracy implements a new and more detailed economical system, where the player have to manage the allocation of money in budgets, in addition to the old system of IC distribution.

Military Units were rebalanced and battles now last long and have more detailed bonus and penalties.

The technology tree has been expanded as well, and the new Intelligence system is a power to be reckoned with.

Some small details help a lot the gameplay as well, like the multiple deploy system, saving a lot of time for players with lots of units to put in field, and the generals can be sorted by skills, saving the periodic visits in the ledger to consult available commanders for the armies.

Sea convoys are now detectable by the player through the use of spies to gather naval intelligence, giving a whole new depth to submarine warfare as you can hunt enemies transport ships in the sea with little trouble to find them.

For those who enjoyed the Hearts of Iron games of the past, will find a renewed version in Arsenal of Democracy, with plenty of things to relearn and new strategies to develop and adapt. Money well spend for Grand Strategy fans.

I'm also an owner of Hearts of Iron II (HoI2) with its expansion packs Doomsday and Armageddon (DD/Arma), but am delighted with Arsenal of Democracy, credit to Paradox for the base game, and to Bi-Logic for the further development.

Highlights for me over and above what Hearts of Iron DD/Arma offered are the:

# Ability to direct air and naval forces to specific provinces, rather than regions made up of several provinces

# New supply system feature, which has forces carrying with them supplies and fuel rather than needing to draw them each day from a supply-dump

# Reworked land combat model which, with larger forces, prolongs battles considerably

# Industrial capacity "concentration" effect and positive impact of infrastructure upon resource extraction

# Loss statistics, both in the ledger and in the pop-up box that appears following combat

I'm encouraged to see that development and refinement continue (patch 1.04 at time of writing) and just as good, that the excellent CORE modification team intend to develop their mod for Arsenal of Democracy.

Summary: The purchase decision was not a challenging one. The longevity and value are outstanding.

AoD is what HoI2 should have been like. It has really interesting features, such as upgradable units in the building queue, an expanded tech tree and the ability to generate more resources through infrastructure upgrades. Also much improved is the ability to run the game in high resolution formats, such as 1920x1200. All in all much user friendlier than HoI2 was, so definately a must-have for HoI2 fans.

Big fan of HOI series, but this title blows them away. Arsenal of Democracy is by far the best games out there based on HOI2 engine.

Even if you never played any game in the hearts of iron series, this is the place to start!

well for me is now better than HOI3, until HOI3 make real patch and fix all bugs. This game is all that HOI2 need to be great hardcore strategic game.

I have many hours of fun with AoD and it is for me SUPERB GAME!

Arsenal of Democracy is the game of Hearts of Iron saga in which one you can play more years (1936-1964). The game is bassed on Hearts of Iron II Doomsday (same graphics) but change almost everything. We have a new political system with national ideas, new combat system, and several changes in technologies and espionage system. I recommend you this game, 9,2 of 10.

Awesome game, mods on the way, what could be better than combining HOI2 with the strategic bonuses from HOI3 + even more extra features.

If graphics arn't a must upgrade for you Hearts of Iron 2 players then this game is perfect.

This is a good upgrade for HOI2. It's like it's a new game again. Well worth the money.

I loved HoI2. You're going to read a bunch of "If you liked HoI2 then you'll love this" reviews. But, honestly, if you loved HoI2 then you've already got this game sans some mods. For the price and what you get it isn't bad, but don't expect the second coming here. I'd still recommend it as a nice change of pace game in between HoI 2 and 3.

This is the perfect update to HOI 2, quite the game. The lack of fancy graphics allows it to run on older machines like my 2gig Core Duo processor laptop which is almost four years old. If you like HOI you should give this one a chance.

this game should have been called Hearts of Iron 3 well done to all who made it please give us a europa game using this game engine. Big fan of Hearts of Iron format.

This game has a simple goal: Improve on HoI2. Sounds easy, but it is surely more difficult than it sounds. This fixes many annoying problems (unable to use space to pause -- essential for playing on a laptop) and now the scroll wheel works! Game play wise, the game adds a very effective espionage system and a much more manageable trade system. The tech tree has been slightly refined, but most importantly there are now up to 10 tech teams. Politically, a number of ideas are added to the mix. The majority of modifications I have tried worked quite well. A very useful feature has also been added: statistics of manpower losses. I now learn much faster what strategies are effective.

All-in-all Arsenal of Democracy breathes new life into the classic HOI2 formula.

From the short demo it looks like a vast interface improvement on Hearts of Iron 3 - I wonder whether it runs on Macintosh as well as PC as the mouse looks very Mac like in the You tube demo - I would seriously consider getting the PC adapter for Mac to play this either VMware or the other one. I have found the HOI 3 on Mac to be complicated and baffling even at the most basic level with regard to troop movement and combined arms interaction, and restrictive in terms of politics/economics/trade/intelligence compare to HOI 2 - eg there seems to be no way to match historical inventions pace even with a huge education emphasis in HOI 3 or to shift a country like Russia from Stalinism to Leninism to left wing radical which can be done in HOI 2. Also tech trading seems to be unavailable even amongst allies in HOI 3 unlike HOI 2, just to mention a couple of areas. Diplomacy seems also restricted ie JAPAN and US alliance not possible and JAPAN Russia alliance not possible. You can get weird scenarios where you are allied in one are and not in another in HOI 3.

So if Arsenal of Democracy allows the player to what if in those areas and greater flexibility with regard to troop dispositions and command structures I am seriously interested in getting it and letting HOI 3 Mac fade into a been there done that not again ....

I've played with all HOI versions; I think Arsenal of Democracy is by far the best trade-off between game depth and accuracy.

Naval units can be upgraded to some extent, there's a much longer game period respect to vanilla (i.e. without no-time-limit patch, mod or expansion), a greater tech-tree, more brigades to choose from.

But there's also greater variety in war outcome: Republican Spain has a chance, Japan annex (and later puppet) Nationalist China, USA enter war or not and so on.

Finally, a huge work has been done with land battles, with greater realism (12 tank units always win aginst not-brigaded infantry!).

Twenty euros worth even if you have bought HOI2 with all of its expansions.

Arsenal of Democracy is a good game, maybe not "HoI2 on Steroids", but definitely on vitamin supplements. The new features and improvements are nice. The auto-trade and auto-sliders are still best left managed on your own, but everything is has been improved. I liked the advanced sliders which allows you to set the min/max of IC spending. I also liked the domestic policies, the ability to force policy changes at dissent cost, the new logistics system, and the higher resolution. It may not be worth it if you have played HoI2 to death and moved on, but otherwise it's worth it. Think Hearts of Iron 2, fully patched w/ new scenarios and features from other paradox games. New players, buy it. HoI fans, wait for it to become 10-15$.

Greatest game I have ever played.It's that simple.I love this game so much I play it ever day for sometimes 5 hours a day.Now, there are some problems only on one of the campaigns(well my snd Napoleonic Wars what was me as France conquering Europe) it freezes and it crashes.Now, it happened on my German one to ,but only once other wise my France one always does so now I cant continue my game.I dont know if its the game or my computer ,but still a great game!!!!!!!

This is a really fine historical game. It offers the most balanced gameplay of the HoI2 serie. The engine is a bit dated. But, if you need one World War II game, and are a fan of detailed strategy plans, this is the one to have, at least until Hearts of Iron III has got its numerous flaws ironed out.

I really liked the game, many small improvements but which are very good! And of course AoD is much mod-friendly then HoI2, that's a big plus!

But I think that the game could look a little better, I mean improve the GFX part but hopefully there will be mods and patches that does that.

The game is a bit laggy when having high speed but that not a big problem, it's surely just my computer.

This is what HOI2 should have been. The battles are longer and it actually takes a bit of skill to beat the AI. Superstacks, ninja-like encirclements, and unstoppable blitzes are things of the past. Highly recommended to any HOI player.

I enjoyed HOI2 and played it many times, and it had to be one of the best games ever in terms of grand strategy. AoD doesn't really add a lot to HOI2 but it does make it a bit better - easier to play and not requiring mods. However, I think I beat HOI2 to death playing it so much and I don't have the desire to play it these days.

I'll get right to the point: the new supply/logistics system and support for any screen resolution are worth the price of this new version of HoI2. I was worried that the logistics system and the changes to production (retooling time) would make the game overly complicated, but I've been having a blast.

This is a great update to the HoI series and should give anyone dissapointed with HoI3 something to do until HoI4 comes along. The only downside is that you might end up losing track of time and play all night like I do...

Superb game. Keeps the same HoI2:DD feeling I had played before. A good of an investment.

The new features such as controlled automated trade, province buildings are just great. And the improvements are amazing, the air combat is very exciting and extremely import to survive, land and naval combats are just great... The supply system now is easy to comprehend and extremely important for a successful campaign.

Even being a know and old engine they manage to make the game up to a good challenge.

HOI 2 should have being evolved to the status as AoD is now,and only then ,maybee in 2011, true Hearts of Iron 3 should have being released(after more concise developement).

AoD is great game,true historical ww2 simulation,and in that part fulfills expectations of many who awaited from HOI III to be that.

If you liked HoI2, your gonna love this game. More off everything, especially the economic & production parts behind your war machine.

Don't expect any fancy graphics though, mostly the same as HoI2 (Not that its bad, just a bit old).