threevue

I sort of don’t like to do “tops” lists because invariably someone brings up a game that I completely forgot to add to my examples, then I look like an idiot. Look, I can’t commit! So go ahead, readers. Disembowel me with your pointy, pointy words.

*Ahem*

Head Up Displays. Second in the “Make Tyler Hate You” competition only to un-customizable button layouts, are cluttered, ugly, unnecessary HUDs that stand out like the sore thumbs. It’s a real let down when a game gets story, graphics and gameplay down pat and totally whiffs when it comes to the HUD. Think about it; in an FPS, it’s the one thing that you will see every second in every frame of the game. It’s a hard art to master, I’m sure. How do you make something that doesn’t exist in the Game World but feeds you the telemetry of the character? When should you push a fresh interface over a subtle, out of the way one? I don’t really know, but then again I don’t get paid to make video games. So I can sleep at night, I chalked some prime examples of a few well done HUDs and GUIs.

King Kong

You can’t get a better HUD than no HUD at all. If it’s done right, that is. Not knowing important info when you need it is just as bad having a ton of non-essential shit lining the edge of the screen. Admittedly, King Kong doesn’t have a lot of weapons juggling, branching pathways, resource managing or intricate scoring that you have to keep track of. There are only three guns in the whole game (pistol, sub-machine gun and rifle), you can only carry one at a time and you’re limited to only the ammo that came with the gun. You’d think that this would hamper the gameplay but it doesn’t, due to the fact that you’re always on a fairly straightforward path and can’t easily get lost. The “ammo count” button will inform you through your character’s (Jack’s) observation of how many bullets you have in the weapon, and each gun has a hip and ADS fire option. It made the game a lot more cinematic and challenging (in a good way). Also, since you don’t have a reticle, Jack points at what he’s throwing with his off hand, clever! May be confusing or scary to people who have never played a video game other than Snake on their cell phone, but easy to handle if you completed reading this sentence without drooling in to your keyboard, shorting it out and starting a structure fire.

Metroid Prime

I think we all know the main reason that this one’s up here: for the glare effect when you are able to see Samus’ reflection in the visor. I remember the first time I saw it, it went like this:

-I shoot a missile to open a door while standing close to the explosion.

“Wait, was that my reflection?”

-I shot another missile at a wall while standing close to the explosion.

“Niiiiiiiiiiiice.”

Add to that the consistency of the sci-fi aesthetic and the way your helmet’s view port would fog/freeze when entering hot/cold environments, and you’ve got one fresh heads up display on your hands… er, head.

Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed didn’t just get he HUD right. It got the main menu, mission select and load screens functioning together as one incorporated concept that really came together nicely. First the HUD: stark, simple and best of all, removable. The four components were Life, Location, Action and Status; all of which you were able to disable if you saw fit… which I did. I used the action display for awhile until after about an hour when I had it memorized. Wait, what?!?!? That’s right all you future game designers out there, after repeating the same movements 300 times I actually learned how to pull them off without having to halt gameplay and look up in the top right corner of the screen to find out how to reach for a ledge so I don’t die. IMAGINE THAT! (more when we get to COD4+5). Along with the option to even have a HUD, Creed also merged the Main Menu and level select “screens” in to the game by making the options part of the display for the Animus (the construct in the game that let’s you character experience Medieval Times), seen in a first person view. Let’s not forget the load screens which were simply Altaïr existing momentarily in a Matrix-esque white void, until the game loaded fully. The effect: an inventive and seamless method of giving information and upholding that troublesome fourth wall.

Note: Yeah, I know I put a video of a load screen. I know that’s dumb, so what? Get your own site! I don’t go to www.assholeswhotalkshitbecausetheyareimpotent.com and troll your posts.

COD4+5 (Hardcore Mode)

You know, all of this bitching and whining about HUDs is well and good, but what can we do to change it? The answer is, nothing. I tried friends, I really did. When the COD4 beta was out, I sent my email in to Infinity Ward pleading with them to make all the HUD options… optional. I knew about Hardcore mode, where all displays are gone unless you get the mini-map for a short time by scoring enough kills, but I couldn’t stand the unsightly progress bar at the bottom of the screen. It’s so useless! You get a status update at the end of every match! What, am I not going to kill an enemy in my sights unless I see that I need 10 more XP to level up? The XP bar is not going to make me kill harder. I’m a little bummed that COD5 (I’m not typing COD:WAW, come on man!) is using the exact same HUD, but I’m looking at the game as an add-on so, what are you going to do? Also, maybe, just maybe, I would like to tun off the kill ticker in the bottom left of the screen. I don’t always need to see who shot who, as long as I’m still alive I’m okay. The ammo indicator and map are fine where they are though.

What really annoys me are the “Helpful” hints that pop up in game just to, you know, nudge you on. At first it’s fine. I’m starting a new game, I’m unfamiliar with the controls, thank you for the help. But I don’t understand why you can’t get rid of them by, say, level 2?

“Press A to Jump Over” Wow! You mean the button configuration hasn’t changed since the tutorial?

“Click RS To Hold You Breath” Yeah, I know. I’m on the last chapter of the game and I have been pulling off head shots since the first level. You think maybe I know what RS does?

“Press X to Reload” Oh, really? No shit. This whole time I was popping the battery out of my controller and sticking it in my asshole to reload.

Hints are fine in the beginning, everyone needs them at one time or another. Just not after 500 online matches. It’s pointless to me when I’ve probably hit X to reload more times than my heart has beaten.

Dead Space

When someone who doesn’t play many video games sees Dead Space and says “Wow, that’s really smart. How come no other games have done that before?”, it fully justifies the in-game HUD that it uses. I’m going to predict that a lot more developers are going to try and implement the non-pause based HUD/Map/inventory feature in to their games in the future. It’s such a keen talking point, every review glows about how you can turn the camera around the floating map, or how the ammo count is displayed on the gun just like how it would be in real life! I know it’s cool! The only time Dead Space kind of drops the ball is when those little Flood-like creatures get on you or if you’re grappled by an enemy and an “A” hologram is emitted from your suit telling you to tap it to escape. It sort of goes against the idea the rest of the HUD is striving to put in place, but it gets points for at least staying consistent with the aesthetic .

So there you go, a few examples of games that I found to have inventive and appealing HUDs, User Interfaces and prompts. I know I missed a game that someone is going to suggest in the first comment, so feel free to be “that guy”. I swear I won’t delete your post.