14 DAY TRIAL // It's hard to evaluate something like the Semper Fi download-only expansion for Hearts of Iron 3 after only a few days. The very nature of the grand strategy title means that it can take a few weeks of constant play, depending on the country chosen and the amount of micro management a player is ready to do to just finish up one full game. I have been playing for more than 5 years with Germany (twice), Japan (twice), the United States (once), the United Kingdom (once, interrupted by save game corruption).
I have also played a little with Romania, Italy, Nationalist China and France, mostly to look at the initial setup and see how the game handles the first few months. And, by the looks of it, Semper Fi is actually a huge step up when compared to the 1.0 version of Hearts of Iron 3, adding quite a lot of useful features and actually making the game better than Hearts of Iron 2 with all the expansions.
The visual Order of Battle editor allows players to quickly see how the army hierarchy is set up and makes it easier to eliminate those unneeded HQs and create more efficient battle formations, especially useful given the wider fronts and more complex tactical moves that can be executed in Semper Fi. There are also useful cues for battles and two new ways to look at the map allowing more information to flow towards the player.
The big question is whether the people at Paradox Interactive have managed to make the Artificial Intelligence put up a fight. Apparently, the Russian AI is now capable of defending in depth and fiercely builds defensive lines farther and farther, while the German AI knows that it needs to go to Norway and even Sweden to secure its flank and at times even succeeds in getting troops to the homeland of England.
The Pacific theater is also more interesting, with one game I played seeing the United States land on the home isles of Japan only to get bogged down while the Empire of the Rising Sun secured China and even beat the Allies back in India.
There are some issues with the diplomacy options and the way the Allies and the Soviets can get some nations like Japan and Italy on their side but they will apparently be fixed in the next patch. In the meantime, Semper Fi looks like a necessary and significant addition making Hearts of Iron 3 a more engaging experience.