Mass Effect 2 interface

All screenshots are taken from Mass Effect 2, created by Bioware and distributed by EA Games. I assume no ownership over original images. Note that in some cases pictures of menus may have been omitted and I may have left some menus out. As an RPG, Mass Effect 2 has many contextual menus and my primary goal was to cover the most common.
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Depending on where the player is in the game, the HUD will appear different. If the player is on their ship, then HUD elements will be minimal, icons only appearing to show a player that an item can be interacted with and then telling the player the given interaction.

While in a world hub, the player’s HUD will show his two squad mates down in the center of the screen. At any point in time, it is possible to bring up the map, which shows current location, or the journal, which shows objectives and progress. Both of these are accessible via the pause menu (a hub that can also be used to access the save game, load game or level up windows) as well as hotkeys.

At any point in time when Shepard is outside of his ship, whether in a world hub or an area where combat is possible, the player’s equipped weapons will be visible on the character’s back. In addition, any chosen armor pieces for both Shepard and his squad are visible on the corresponding characters.

In combat, the camera pulls tighter to Shepard’s shoulder. A crosshair, different depending on which weapon is selected, will appear, indicating where the player is aiming. The crosshair will grow or shirk depending on how accurate the weapon is currently and whether or not the player has entered into the more accurate aiming mode. For sniper rifles, the camera switches to the first person and the crosshair is the weapon’s scope.  Damage feedback on the part of the player is demonstrated via a decrease in the health bars above enemies (more in depth on this later). Damage to the player is indicated via camera shake, grunts from the character and a decrease in the circular health bar at the bottom of the screen. If the player’s health drops to dangerous levels, the edges of the screen will fill with a red-veined texture and the sounds treble will increase while a heartbeat sound plays, giving the illusion that the player’s heart is thudding in their ears. At certain moments, in game text will prompt the player with suggestions or directions, such as reminding them to take cover to replenish health when the character’s health is critical or using a power to revive squad mates when a squad member is down. A mini-map is displayed in the bottom right corner which, as long as it isn’t being jammed by an enemy or the environment, displays the location of hostiles.

During combat, the player can enter into menu wherein they can access their powers and direct their squad. This menu freezes play temporarily while the player inputs commands via buttons that indicate what powers and weapons are available to the player as well as the player’s squad. Powers and weapons can also be hot keyed for fast access without taking the player out of the action. The advantage of this menu, though, is that it pauses the action, allowing the player to plot out their next move. A clearer readout of squad mate’s condition is available from this menu as well.

Outside of combat, other game specific actions have their own interfaces and readouts. Both the hacking and bypass mini games have an interface that displays the instructions for the game as well as letting the player know their progress and time still allotted to them to complete the objective.

The dialog window appears as a six-point wheel, with short blurbs representing what the player can say next. Options to advance the dialog are typically grouped on the right side and options to further interrogate characters on the situation are typically grouped on the left. In addition, the vertical placement of a dialog blurb indicates the character’s attitude while saying it; The topmost point indicates a friendly or Paragon attitude, the middle a neutral and the bottom most an aggressive or Renegade attitude. There are exceptions to these placement rules, particularly during junctures of the game where the player must choose between two significant options. In addition to this, there may also be blue Paragon dialog options (in the previous game known as “persuade”) and red Renegade dialog options (in the previous game known as “coerce”). These options appear on the left side of the wheel and indicate that a difficult to navigate conversation can be bypassed via one of these options because the Paragon/Renegade score meets the needed requirements.

The Level Up screen displays the abilities the player can level up for a given character, the points they have to spend and, if Shepard is currently selected, the current Paragon/Renegade score. Each skill has four levels and requires increasing numbers of points to advance (level 1 needs 1 point, level 2, 2 points, etc.). Hi-lighting a skill and a level reveals a short blurb on what the skill does followed by stats on that specific skill.

The entire design for the interfaces in this game is universally futuristic and high-tech looking, with an overall orange color scheme. It meshes well with the game’s overall style and tone.