What sold me on this game, and apparently many others, was "possibilities". What if this happened instead of that? What if things didn't progress as we know from history? I was so excited about this game from reading the box that I did something which I haven't done in almost five years: I paid full price for a new game.
Obviously that is implemented to a certian degree. Some historical events pop up and you are given an opportunity to follow history, or choose one or two other options depending on the event. Playing a game which is designed to follow history exactly every time you play it ruins the replay value, and its obvious to me that the designers of this game knew that and worked to make sure that it didn't follow history exactly. I think that they succeded to a great degree, but I think they failed on two critical points.
Outside of bug fixes, here are the two things that I think must change to increase replayability, and I think they would go a long way to make me and many other fans more than happy (maybe even proud) to pay full price for this game:
1) Time limit (game ends 1948). Some people would like to see this removed altogether, but I think pushing it to 1953 would be very reasonable. Five more game years should be enough to satisfy me and many other gamers.
2) Victory conditions (game ends with Axis or Allied defeat). Historically, this is more than enough, but its not what I thought I was getting when I shelled out $44 U.S. plus tax. I assumed that a game with this kind of complexity would give you the ability to select from a small variety of victory conditions somewhat like the game "Axis & Allies". Even without being able to select victory conditions, the game should not end with the defeat of the Axis or the Allies unless the player is a member of one of those alliances. This, more so than the time limit, must change.
Imagine the frustration of a first time player who, playing as the U.S.S.R., doesn't want to join either side of the conflict, but rather impose their vision of communist distopia on all peoples of all nations, only to have their game cut short in the middle of their own world war when the one and only Axis country is wiped out. It just might turn them away from purchasing another game made Paradox or Stategy First.
On another note:
Originally posted by Moonwalker
The reason why it ends in 1948 is simply because it covers the World War 2, nothing more, nothing less. I think the time-frame 36-48 gives enough room for alternative outcomes of the war. Remember, most of the games similar to HOI often have a timeframe of 39-45 or 39-46.
I hope that no human Axis player ever succeds in invading America. Why? Because it's more silly than realistic. An invasion and occupation of Great Brittain should be possible. But an invasion of the U.S. is a hole different matter.
And I hope that an Axis-player never gets a chance to even consider an invasion of the U.S. Because that would just be S.I.L.L.Y, silly. 
Nope, not silly. The Nazis used a U-boat & a tourist map of New York to survey the city & the surrounding waters. This recon mission of theirs led to the development of a "realistic" plan to invade the U.S. Eastern sea board. Its a fact. Thankfully they lost the war long before they had the chance to implement this plan! Whether or not it would have worked is a different story.
Originally posted by blah.blah.blah
I think the thing to remember here is that it is almost beyond belief that either germany or japan would ever have been able to mount a cross-ocean continental invasion. The logistical problems alone would preclude it, and there is also the fact that the US would have no trouble whatsoever creating a land army large enough to deal with any conceivable landing forces. That doesn't even count the US navy. An invasion of alaska would be much more likely, but wouldn't really achieve anything for many of the same reasons. It's like the soviets invading the usa. It was just never a realistic option for them.
There are a string of islands near Alaska that, during the war, the Japanese had control of some, and were very determined to gain control of the rest. The U.S. had a very difficult time keeping the islands they had (control of them switched back and forth at least once), and just barely was able to beat the Japanese out of all the islands. It takes no stretch of logic to see that they intended to use those islands as stepping stones for a full scale north american invasion. Thankfully, they did not succeed!
On the soviets invading the U.S., during the '80s U.S. officials questioned a high ranking Soviet military offical who had defected to the U.S.. Chief among their questions was whether or not the U.S.S.R. ever had plans to invade U.S. soil. The Soviet defector said they never even considered invading simply because our citizens are allowed to have firearms, making the challenge far to difficult from their point of view. Thanks for the 2nd amendment!
