Hearts of Iron III: For the Motherland

 PC
User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 22
  3. Negative: 7 out of 22

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  1. Hoooooooar
    Jul 3, 2011
    2
    Paradox continues the trend of downloadable...... content? In reality there is little new content, and is quite obviously a $20 patch. The game was riddled with bugs that rendered the game almost unplayable upon release. They have a niche market and are milking it dry by charging for patches disguised as an "expansion". It is infuriating that such a great game and developer hasParadox continues the trend of downloadable...... content? In reality there is little new content, and is quite obviously a $20 patch. The game was riddled with bugs that rendered the game almost unplayable upon release. They have a niche market and are milking it dry by charging for patches disguised as an "expansion". It is infuriating that such a great game and developer has followed a rather new industry trend of releasing an unfinished game and charging for patches to complete it. That being said the game is the best ww2 rts there is, none even come close to its depth. You can easily sink 8 hours into this game and not even realize it, it is hands down top 5 for any serious RTS player.… Expand
  2. hmsvictory
    Jun 29, 2011
    6
    This was really a joke. this is just other big patch that are suppose to pay 20 euros for what a jOKE!!
    srly don't buy this. The best would be if this so called expansion would cost like 15 euros less.
  3. Daisai
    Oct 1, 2011
    4
    The latest expansion of Hearts of Iron 3 which claims to have multicore support.

    This multicore support however is only working for the AI controlled units which is hardly stressing the cpu, the game itself however makes 1 core run on 100% on a 1090t. So basicly this causes a bottleneck making the multicore support pretty useless. The game is very unstable, get used to saving every 5    The latest expansion of Hearts of Iron 3 which claims to have multicore support.

    This multicore support however is only working for the AI controlled units which is hardly stressing the cpu, the game itself however makes 1 core run on 100% on a 1090t.
    So basicly this causes a bottleneck making the multicore support pretty useless.

    The game is very unstable, get used to saving every 5 min. since if you spend a few hours playing this game its possible the game crashes around 20-30 times.

    Also there are plenty of bugs in the game, the AI control which has been spend so much time on by making it multicore support basicly does nothing you want.
    If you as a player want to give a AI controlled army a order to invade a certain area it simply doesnt do it.

    Gameplay is pretty much like every other RTS, the game claims to be very open and that you can strange history.
    This however is not the case, for example playing as germany and simply not invading poland and not annexing other countrys.
    And you still get declared war by france and england.
    This makes the game pretty much a closed ending RTS game and not the supreme ruler idea that you run a country.    … Expand
  4. Damascus
    Mar 1, 2015
    2
    Five reasons this game is absolute s h i t e !

    1. I needed community support to even start the game. 2. Game-mechanics are somewhat booring. Rather limited options for doing anything, and unless you know the tricks you'll be doing absolutely nothing the first half of the game. 3. This game is drudgery galore. It's main game-mechanic consist of organizing your troops into a proper    Five reasons this game is absolute s h i t e !

    1. I needed community support to even start the game.

    2. Game-mechanics are somewhat booring. Rather limited options for doing anything, and unless you know the tricks you'll be doing absolutely nothing the first half of the game.

    3. This game is drudgery galore. It's main game-mechanic consist of organizing your troops into a proper chain of command. Doing this is about as time-consuming as in real life. A cluncky and unintuitive interface makes this chore into your own personal hell.

    4. HoI3 is spent waiting for something interesting to happen, but it never does.

    5. You have to go online to learn how to play the game.    … Expand
  5. Anonymous_1
    Sep 12, 2014
    0
    Pros: The World War II scenarios are fun at first; the graphics look much better than Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon when the game isn't stuttering into a low frame-rate oblivion.

    Cons: Worse music than Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon; the AI for the game is quite dumb, very much worse than it was in Hearts of Iron II; game has a much reduced scope from Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon;    Pros: The World War II scenarios are fun at first; the graphics look much better than Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon when the game isn't stuttering into a low frame-rate oblivion.

    Cons: Worse music than Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon; the AI for the game is quite dumb, very much worse than it was in Hearts of Iron II; game has a much reduced scope from Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon; idiotic "neutrality system"; super-long loading screens; a huge amount of problems with realism and history in the game; the huge amount of tiny provinces destroys the performance and fun of the game; the good graphics destroy the framerate and make the game seem to go by ten times slower than Hearts of Iron II; feels like a huge unnecessary waste of resources to have a 3D graphics engine for what is essentially a 2D board game; game is so so bloated that it cannot run on older computers which could run Hearts of Iron II very well; this so-called expansion is a glorified, paid patch for a broken game.

    Score Breakdown: Graphics 7/10, Sound Effects and Music 3/10, Realism 2/10, Game Stability 1/10, Gameplay 1/10, Loading Screens and Frame Rate 1/10, Replay Value 0/10, Game Publisher's Ethics -100/10, Total Score 0/10

    Conclusion: Overall a huge step backwards from its prequel Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon. Instead of playing Hearts of Iron III or any of the Hearts of Iron III expansions, buy Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday with the Armageddon expansion and perhaps try the game Darkest Hour.    … Expand
  6. hcookie
    Jun 21, 2012
    8
    I reviewed this game a year to go and revisited the game with the latest 3.06 patch. How much can change in a year? Plenty. Maybe it's because of all the negative feedback Hearts of Iron 3 got, maybe it's all the bad publicity for the much maligned Swords of the Stars 2, but somehow Paradox is starting to show some maturity and some corporate decency and instead of shovelling rubbish toI reviewed this game a year to go and revisited the game with the latest 3.06 patch. How much can change in a year? Plenty. Maybe it's because of all the negative feedback Hearts of Iron 3 got, maybe it's all the bad publicity for the much maligned Swords of the Stars 2, but somehow Paradox is starting to show some maturity and some corporate decency and instead of shovelling rubbish to consumers it's finally saying no poor quality control.

    Hearts of Iron 3 For the Mother Land Patch 3.06b revision 2 is probably the best patch Paradox has ever put it. The game is finally getting a long overdue map revision, that is closer to reality. The interface has been improved and polished to a high shine and the game is finally getting some decent Ai, sort of. While the AI still makes silly moves, the Ai at least provides the gamer a somewhat decent opponent. Sort of, if you're not too fussy that the pacific theater is still far from finished. But it's the largest step in the right direction that Paradox has ever taken. I'm rating this game and expansion an 8 from a resounding 0 from my previous review.

    I now highly recommend this game to any strategy grognard out there. There's still long ways to go to provide the strategy gamer a decent Pacific theater of operations, but it's come a long way.    … Expand
  7. BubbsTubbs
    Aug 5, 2011
    7
    A few features are added and AI is slightly improved from prior versions. As Germany you will get a few D-Days in France and the Low Countries, but I found these easy to beat back. Beyond that I didnt see much new with the AI. The addition of a Theatre screen and partisans is minor in the over all scheme. As for the people who think this should be a free download: You cant blameA few features are added and AI is slightly improved from prior versions. As Germany you will get a few D-Days in France and the Low Countries, but I found these easy to beat back. Beyond that I didnt see much new with the AI. The addition of a Theatre screen and partisans is minor in the over all scheme. As for the people who think this should be a free download: You cant blame Paradox for charging for these little downloads for niche games. They arent selling like Call of Duty or GTA. In depth strategy games are hard to come by.… Expand
  8. quassel
    Oct 29, 2011
    7
    new features and meanwhile only a few bugs left, performance is still not perfect, but much better than in hoi3 and semper fi

    good enough if it's reduced e.g. -50% on steam
  9. VictorGar
    Aug 1, 2012
    2
    Paradox keeps releasing expansions for HOI3 that dont add much apart from a couple of forgettable features and some fixes that belong in a patch. Semper Fi was decent (mainly due to the AI improvements) but this is just a joke. HOI3 is a great game when modded. There are modders that invest great deal of their time trying to fix what Paradox did wrong. And the problems with expansions isParadox keeps releasing expansions for HOI3 that dont add much apart from a couple of forgettable features and some fixes that belong in a patch. Semper Fi was decent (mainly due to the AI improvements) but this is just a joke. HOI3 is a great game when modded. There are modders that invest great deal of their time trying to fix what Paradox did wrong. And the problems with expansions is the modders have to start AGAIN from scratch (since they feel compelled to use the new expansion and discontinue the old one) which is a pity. I am still waiting for the release of my favourite mod, ICE for the motherland. And paradox will apparently release YET another empty expansion shortly.

    Please dont buy them, we should discourage them to stop this trend of releasing unfinished games and then releasing a bunch of so called expansions    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. Gaming Nexus
    Sep 12, 2011
    42
    This is an end-of-life expansion for the HOI3 franchise. It adds some (minor) new features to the original, but does not do much to fix any major flaws. It is not worth 20 bucks to anybody but an HOI3 completist.
    Read full review
  2. Da Gameboyz
    Jul 29, 2011
    55
    As such, if you're not a hardcore turn based strategy buff, stay away.
    Read full review
  3. XGN
    Jul 10, 2011
    75
    The new Partisan system and Theatre Interface are just a few good improvements this expansion has to offer. However, only few of the older problems get fixed and the extra options will only make it harder for a newcomer to get into Hearts of Iron III. Gamers that are familiar with the franchise will however be happy that the most realistic WWII game ever, just got a little bit better.
    Read full review