Recent reviews by Yusef al Asad

A Great game. Its a bit over the top in places but if you love violently killing Nazis this is one of the best games you will find.

I have a History degree and finally got the time to play this game seriously about a year ago. I think its a great game. It is a pretty deep strategy game but not too complicated, and it has enough fluff such as some period music and speeches and player models to keep it fresh.
I will admit I came to the game wondering "what if Italy had fought as hard as Germany and Japan?" and thus I spend most of my time playing as Italy--which by the way-is the only major power yet to receive an update and new National Focus tree--hint, hint, Paradox!
The command system is simple but it works well--too bad most of my generals, when starting out-- were not very good! The combat system seems to work well within reason and the new supply system they just implemented with the "No Step Back" makes sure you cannot forget supply but does not totally overwhelm you with it.
I like the modernization of weapons in the game--if you are producing a particular tank or plane and need to convert to a more modern one you do NOT want to just tell ALL of your factories to convert over or you will find your front lines without weapons for a few months. Instead you have at least two production lines of each item--fighters, tanks, AA guns then convert one over to the new version and once production ramps way up you can convert the second one to a the same thing or something even better.
Things I do not like--as aforementioned--there is still not an update to Italy yet--but since they opted to do Russia I understand why they did all the eastern European countries first. I do like the ability to do alt history for countries and am looking forward to a Fascist Italy that could get rid of the King, and therefore bind the officer corps to the Duce(Leader) and not the Royal House.
Another thing that DEFINITELY needs work is the Peace Conferences. You can do 80 percent of the fighting for your faction, yet end up losing control of land your troops conquered that would become your own core territory if you could annex it. Italy would NOT just give up Malta or Egypt or Greece in a peace settlement because Germany fought harder against Britain and or France and suffered higher losses. The importance of the land and war goals of your power should have a bigger effect on who gets what territory at the war's end especially if you have it heavily garrisoned by then!
In Sum, buy this game. Buy all the DLCs as well. Its got a simulator feel but its fun to play and there is a lot of good fine detail in it such as political leader portraits for many of the generals and leaders of the time. You feel like you are controlling a country, and you can even choose to be Emperor of Ethiopia or the leader of Chile if you want to. If you were ever interested in Strategy and World War 2, you will enjoy it.