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While the game play in Left 4 Dead 2 is by no means simple,
the interface for the game is somewhat minimalist. At any given time, the
player can discern their health, the health of their team mates and the items
they currently have equipped.
The player’s health appears in the bottom right corner of
the screen. The more damage the player takes, the more the bar depletes.
Direction damage is coming from is indicated by red arrows which appear on the
screen if the player is being attacked from behind or a direction they are not
currently facing. In addition, the health bar will change colors to reflect the
amount of damage the player has taken and how close they are to being knocked
over or killed. Green means good condition, yellow is slightly worse though not
yet critical and red means dangerous condition. In addition to the visual
representation, a character tends to move slower when his or her health is in
the red. If the player uses a med pack, an item that permanently refills
health, then the bar replenishes normally and remains solid. However, if the
player uses items such as the pain pills or adrenaline shots, the bar will fill
transparently. The color tends to change to either green or yellow, but the bar
will gradually deplete over time. This coupled with the transparent filling
signal the player that the health boost is only temporary. These same rules apply
to the player’s squad mates’ health at any given time, though these health
indicators are a tiny bit smaller on the display than the player’s. Also, some
of the equipment the other players currently have is displayed over their
health bars. If a player reaches critical conditions, where being knocked down
again means death, the color on their layout will de-saturate and, depending on
how close to death they are, a heart beat sound effect will play. Conversely,
when the player is under the influence of adrenaline, the sound will mute and
the edges of the display will blur to reflect the slightly dazed, super-powered
state the player is now temporarily in.
To the left side of the screen is a display showing what the
player has equipped along with empty item slots. On the PC version, they are
layered vertically corresponding to the order they will be equipped while using
the mouse wheel to select an item. On the XBOX ,
they are set out in a pattern that represents the hotkey layout on the
directional pad. All of the item slots have a default icon indicating what
might be equipped there, save the primary weapons slot which is entirely invisible
until the player picks up one of the primary weapons, such as the shotgun or
the sub-machine gun. In addition, weapons that function off of ammunition will
have numbers next to their icons indicating how much ammunition the player has.
Much of the rest of in-game feedback comes organically, in
the way that enemies deform when shot, rather than having health meters, from
the game’s music, which gives cues based on which boss-type enemies are nearby
and if a hoard is about to rush the party’s current position, or in the form of
tool-tips or quick overlays. Regarding the lattermost, if a player is knocked
down, a tool tip will appear on the screen notifying the player that a team
mate has been knocked down and needs help. In addition to this, the player’s
model will gain a yellow outline visible through walls so that other players
can find their way to them. At other moments in the game, certain objectives
will appear in the form of tool tips for the player, such as instructions to
hold a position until rescue arrives or press a button to move forward. In
addition to these tool tips, the characters will often have dialog that
reflects the current objective, such as signifying which way to go or what item
to interact with. Furthermore, times players have “saved” one another
(prevented another player from taking damage by killing an attacking enemy
before they could hit) or killed special infected are noted at the right of the
screen.
The interface aesthetics for L4D2 is, again, a bit of a
mixed bag. On the one hand, much of the information the player needs to know is
told organically, adding to the immersion of the game and the feel of being in
a survival situation. The player avatars, health bars and menu screens all have
a gritty, film-grain look to them which in turns adds to the game’s atmosphere
as well as hearkens back to old school horror films. Certain elements, though,
such as tool-tips, some sound effects used while navigating menus or notifying
players and glowing hi-lights around the characters or items can draw attention
to the fact that the entire experience is taking place in a video game. The
flip-side is that all of these cues make it much easier for the player to
notice what is going on in the chaos while still forcing the player to pay attention
by not doing all of the player’s work for him. What’s more, there is a game
setting for the game that, while it doesn’t disable the computer game-ish sound
effects, does disable tool tips and the glow around items and characters in
order to make the experience more challenging and emphasize player to player
communication.
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