Similar to it's fellow HOI2 mod Darkest Hour, AoD is HOI2 with some pretty nice improvements. While DH added more actual game content (including WW1), AoD focuses more on improving upon what already existed in HOI2. The result is that the WW2 you fight in this is a better experience than the vanilla game, and that was an excellent game already. With that said, I prefer Darkest Hour to this simply because there is more stuff there even if it is not quite as well-polished as it is here.

Strategy nerds and fellow psychos will find much to like here. It's old, but still good. :)

Paras peli todelliselle nojatuolinatsille.

on the negative side:
- It is a bit hard to learn if you are not familiar with hearts of iron series of games. it has some kind of tutorial, but that is nowhere enough to understand all the features.
- no fancy graphics [well, you may even say no graphics at all, as you will turn out the animated sprites after a fer hours of gameplay and use counters to represent units/armies as they are much more informative at a glance.
- a game can take very long from start to finish

But if you don't mind a long learning curve, and have a lot of time this is easily one of the best strategy games you can find.

It is a big improvement over HoI2 in all areas. If you liked HoI2 you will love this.

If you play Hearts of Iron III, you just might find this version more fun if you're playing by yourself. Being able to escape the confines of history by going into the 50's and 60's gets crazy with the Cold War gone hot. Plus the tech tree is much more fleshed out, and you can more easily (with time and patience) play as micro powers. Politics are also a tad more interesting. Overall I was very surprised by this little gem.

Very thorough remake of Hearts of Iron 2 - it is wider and deeper than original game, which itself is very wide and deep in terms of every fan of turn-based global strategies.
It was released not as mod but as a separate game due to significant amount of gameplay changes above the original HOI2 game. And it is still under development! Get me right - Arsenal of Democracy is a finished product, yet there are always room for some improvements and additional campaigns and stuff. And yeah, community is friendly, and welcome for any newcomers, but...

But I won't recommend you to start with Paradox games from this title. There are way too many options, details, charts and graphs to sink in... So you'll get by better starting from Europa Universalis 3 or even Victoria 2, than with Arsenal of Democracy.
So I do recommend the game - but only for prepared ones, who grown up above the basic things Civilization taught us, and ready to spend dozens or even hundreds of hours on single separate scenario, making his own history. There are so many scenarios and mods to prove yourself on... And if you'll be not getting enough, you can always make some of your own.

Finally, I must inform you that there are a major bug still troubling some players - a flickering screen problem. For some people the game works straight out of box, some have to go to Paradox forums and download patches (Steam is releasing 1.04 version now, and current patch on Paradox is 1.09 or maybe 1.10 already). And for some systems flickering goes on forever, like how it goes with my laptop. So I warn you! There is a possibility that this game will be unplayable, no matter how great it is...

My mark is 8/10. I'd like to give the game more, but flickering bug is still a big issue, even after 5+ years after game release.

WW2 Grand Strategy at it's finest. It's hard to change the course of history, compared to some other games of this type - but it's possible.
What else to say - hundreds of different types of authentic WW2 units, events, research tree, leaders. So many different tactics and strategies you can adopt.

C.O.R.E. Mod is highly recommended, it just makes everything better, expands the game, adds a ton more historical events, makes all the unit and research options, combat system more authentic.

I come at this as one who originally played HoI3 followed by Darkest Hour. AoD focuses very much on domestic and economic issues (repairing provinces, civic investment as a means to alleviating dissent as opposed to simply cranking out consumer goods). It's really sliders galore. The implimentation of over-arching, nation-wide policies is also nice.
What this game could use, however, is a bit more UI polish. To use the technology tree as an example -- colors seem stark and non-period while useability refinements such as historical years within each tech's respective title should have been implimented. The AI also makes questionable ahistoric decisions, leaving history-minded players stuck. If you're open-minded and wanting unpredictablity though, that might be right up your alley.

All that being said, I recommend this to players wanting diplomatic and policy-heavy gameplay without losing military action.

I learned to play this style of game on Hearts of Iron I. It was difficult to navigate at best. My friend, who is a code monkey, and I had discussed adding changes to the game that we would find helpful. The next thing you know, most of them did happen in HOI2. I was hooked. Darkest Hour and Arsenal of Democracy are both fantastic. If you appreciate a top-down strategy game, this is for you. It can be a pain in the butt to learn (~10 hours), but it is well worth it.

Disclaimer: I am a history teacher.

this the absolute best game in the hearts of iron series, while darkest hour is the most stable and have a lot of nice features, the logistics, combat and other mechanics simply make this the best game in the series

Love this version of the game and highly recommend it to anyone into strategic war games.

Though i continue to be plagued by the Americans when ever i play as the Germans...

Latest Game:
Year 1943 January - Germany controls Europe (only Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, England/Ireland and Finland not occupied), control north Africa along with Italy. Pushed the Soviets back passed Moscow and only getting sparse resistance from this at this point - also control most of the middle east. The US finally enters the war on the side of the allies (something i had been expecting since 1941).

Year 1943 April - United States performs Torch Landings in North Africa (Casablanca), brush away the 3 divisions of garrison infantry (1941 tech level) - with 6 mixed divisions of their own. I move my quick response army group - comprised of elite mechanized and armored divisions, 12 of them in total under Rommel (level 6 general) to hit them - expecting to crush them (as to date my groups like that have crushed anything they have ran into) - the 6 american units blast the snot ouf of my quick response unit. Im a little shocked, but things happen in war - luckly i had two slower moving army groups near the area and moved them to intercept the american force will withdrawing my battered 12 divisions... hit the americans with a further 24 divisions comprised of mix forces, artillery. AT, assault guns, ect..ect.. still going up against 6 divisions... get my arse handed to me again. Double check my intel on USA - agents tell me im more advanced than them in tech in all areas of ground combat - so totally confused at the loses.

Year 1943 July - American forces have pushed me back to italian held north africa. Ive halted my advance into russia and agree to peace treaty with them and start moving units from the eastern front back to the western front. British try landing near Gibraltar, but i crush it with garrison forces. But for what ever anything i throw at the americans bounces off. Had a total of 40 divisions in north africa get pushed back... even after i diverted 90% of my luftwaffe to strike them (from what i could tell i had complete air superiority).

Year 1943 December (Present) - US forces control North africa all the way to the suez. Repeat review of intel tells me im still more advanced than the americans in every category of ground technology. Even with fortress in tubruk and such, the US army just rolls over me repeatedly. I have nearly 70 divisions sitting across the Suez, most have been sitting there for weeks - so fully supplied and rested. But some how i suspect the US is just gonna roll over me again. (and usually they hit me with at most 6-10 divisions per engagement). British try repeatedly to attack in norway and france, and get squashed every time... then the US lands in Spain and steam rolls the defenses i have there too...again swatting away 12 panzer divisions like they were nothing.

Have no idea why i cant beat the US forces. Though its been fun actually getting pushed across Africa, though i was hoping for successful counter attacks a few times - especially when i starrted throwing my very experience russian front unit at them... never been handed my arse so badly before.