So I just read the latest Inside Infinite post, and while I was super happy with the new enemies design, I am very disappointed by the UI team’s work.
> For the HUD we shifted persistent elements out of the top corners – like grenades and weapons - to reduce eye fatigue, cognitive load, and Arena sweatiness, which were serious issues called out by Halo 5 players.
First of all, it would have been better to listen to more than just Halo 5 players. They just represent a small portion of the community, generally not fan of classic Halo and mainly PvP players.
Infinite’s HUD is bad, it’s actually less readable than the classic HUD because everything is so tiny and shoved into a corner. When playing I had trouble reading it and getting information, a problem I never had with previous Halo games. It’s better to have stuff dispatched around, because when I’m playing, I’m usually looking for a single information at the time.
Old HUD told you how many grenades you had of all types, the current restricts you to the current used. With Infinite’s campaign allowing the player to carry 4 different types, it’s gonna be a problem.
> By moving these elements to create breathing room, players can find vertical targets faster
That’s literally the reason why Bungie shifted to lowered crosshair since Halo 2… You created a solution for a problem that was already solved. Lowered croshair allows for more vertical vision and helps with the amazing skyboxes of Halo.
Another problem is that it feels like theses changes were just made to match other generic FPS games. Both CoD Vanguard and BF2042 have centered crosshair and ammo count in the bottom right. But this standardization is not a good thing. Halo just feels less itself, and less unique.
There should also have an option to disable hitmarkers. SInce enemies bleed and stagger when hit, hitmarkers serve no purpose and even create visual noise which doesn’t help focus.
Halo Infinite needs to have, at least an option for those who want, a classic Halo HUD and a lowered reticle and no hitmarkers. Not only because it will make the game better to play, but it will also make it feel more like a true Halo game.