Hearts of Iron III

Hearts of Iron III pushed the series' scale up by an order of magnitude - it split the world map into tens of thousands of provinces and handed the player control over individual divisions, their exact organization, morale, and supply logistics at the front. It came out in 2009 as a direct sequel to the second entry, and from its premiere it was seen as the most demanding and most detailed Hearts of Iron of all, since it replaced simple army movements with a complex system of supply lines and unit status.

The new level of detail also meant a new way of playing: the player no longer just handles marching armies across the map, but assembles their own divisions out of individual battalions, manages their replenishment on the move, and keeps an eye on infrastructure status both in the rear and at the front, because a poorly supplied army stops functioning effectively in combat. For veterans of the previous entries, this was the long-desired step toward realism, but for newcomers it was often a confusing wall of numbers and menus that the game didn't explain adequately at first, forcing players to look things up on forums and wikis.

Successive expansions and patches, especially Their Finest Hour, greatly improved the interface and balance and made the game accessible to a wider circle of players, yet the title still holds the reputation of the series' most complex entry today - Hearts of Iron IV a few years later replaced it with a noticeably more accessible approach to similar themes. With today's unofficial tweaks for 64-bit systems and newer graphics cards, though, the third entry can still run without trouble on current hardware.

Why play it: Suitable for seasoned grand strategy players who want maximum detail in commanding divisions and aren't afraid to spend hours reading manuals and forum guides.