Reader's Note: This is a review of the Semper Fi expansion for the game Heart of Iron III. Due to the expansion consisting of mostly gameplay-related fixes and improvements, this review centers around the gameplay of Heart of Iron III and Semper Fi.

Hearts of Iron III: Semper Fi is an expansion pack, which fixes and adds many new gameplay elements to the main game. It also increases the overall gameplay length by adding another year of events to the campaign. With all this discussion of gameplay, what type of gameplay does Hearts of Iron III actually have? And does Semper Fi improve upon what's already available?

The best way to describe the gameplay is micro-management insanity. This isn't the usual strategy gameplay found in, say, Command & Conquer or WarCraft III. All you’re presented with is a map, some units represented as boxes, and a few menus to control everything from diplomacy to production. Due to this style of gameplay it's closer to text-based strategy than any other genre out there. To assist with the micro-management tasks, Semper Fi added the ability to select multiple units at once and perform joint attacks. Also, every menu screen does have AI-assist which lets the game make decisions to help you in your campaign. The AI isn’t too bad, and can work itself out of any bind that you put it in.

The battle is won when you defeat all of your opponents, either through diplomacy or war. It is your choice on how you actually go about victory. Total victory is achieved when you get enough victory points by conquering the enemies or allying yourself with them. You can send your squads of troops up against enemies using the map and then right clicking and dragging them towards the enemy’s direction. After a day or two you will get a prompt, which tells you whether your troops won or lost the fight. Your chances of winning a fight seem dependent on your technical advantage, rather than how many troops you are attacking with.

Semper Fi is pretty much an update of the overall gameplay, with the addition of new air gameplay. Just like the base game, you can control air supremacy with ease thanks to the new airspace map mode. Probably the most important addition to the gameplay is the new diplomatic options, which give you greater control over allies and future allies. Want temporary debt spending funded by your allies? You now have that ability. Designation of the “Pride of your Fleet” can also be performed. Designation is risky though, since enemies will both want to destroy whatever warship you select and fear its assigned fleet.

Choice is the name of the game in Hearts of Iron III. You can choose between one of over 150 nations to command. Each nation has different strengths and weaknesses. The campaign starts in the mid 1930s and ends in the late 1940s. With the addition of the Semper Fi expansion, a new 1940 scenario has been added to fill in a small gap in events present without it. Realistically all the scenario does is add another few hours of gameplay time.

The game in general is entirely strategy based. You have nearly two decades to either follow history as closely as you can, or write your own history. Make your chosen country the strongest in the world, or become an ally to all. You have all of the tools availble to you in order to complete the game however you want, all presented within a neat and clean menu list.

Due to how different, and fairly old-school, Hearts of Iron III: Semper Fi is, gamers should play the demo to judge whether or not this should be on their purchase list. For me, I’ve played several games of a similar nature and can say this is a good title within its genre. If you are looking for a game that ends quickly you should look elsewhere. It will take days and sometimes a couple of weeks to beat, especially if you play online with all 32 slots taken. The Semper Fi expansion pack has added many adjustments and improvements to the base gameplay, and has made the insane amount of micro-management a bit easier to digest.