The health bar - to show or not to show?

What do two new games, Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2, have in common? Neither have a visible health bar. This isn't new, previous games have taken this approach, but is it a new trend we're seeing?

I'm not sure I like it as much as seeing a health number or bar to rely on. I don't mind if it's regenerating health or not, but it's always nice to know exactly how close to dying I am, making risky decisions a lot easier to calculate.

There is the added advantage of cleaning up the HUD and providing a more cinematic experience, but health bars can still be small and unobtrusive.

So what say you? Do you prefer to see a health counter/bar? Or is the red screen and beating heart beat the way forward?

 

This is not new, CoD2 was doing this years ago.

I like it, mostly because the death of the health bar has led to regenerating health (don't get hit too hard at once, but cop as many hits in total as you like.) Being that I generally suck at FPS-type games, this is good for me. I've never liked the arbitrary '100 hit points' in games like this, and randomly picking up medical supplies off the ground and whatnot. So while this is arbitrary, I think it adds to the cinematic experience like you said. I enjoy having my screen starting to fade and diving for cover in a desperate attempt to catch a breather.

 

I agree with Marcus. Also, in the 'The Getaway' games, you don't have any HUD whatsoever, which was an approach that I grew fond of very quickly. That is to say, I grew fond of the idea very quickly. Alas, the controls in those games were executed poorly which served to make the HUD sorely missed. If the control of the character had been done better, the lack of HUD wouldn't have been felt. Plus, when you have better control of your character, it also helps make the game appear more cinematic.

Most critics seem to point to the lack of an on screen map of where to go in The Getaway, and how annoying that was, as proof that HUD to some extent will always be needed in games. I beg to differ. This need could have been bypassed fairly easy if your buddies, who are almost always with you in your car, told you which way to turn, like they do in rally games.

I will admit, though, that it won't work in all types of games. I think some genres just wouldn't work without it. On a side note, I really like the idea they came up with for Splinter Cell: Conviction, where in order to avoid displaying your mission objectives as an on-screen overlay seemingly outside of the gameworld, new objectives will instead appear projected onto structures within the game, during key moments.

 

I liked Dead Space's solution of not having a HUD by having a HUD. Guns displaying ammo count is nothing new, but the way it wasn't quite a built-in feature of the gun but still a display was a nice touch, as were all the other holograms (bag of holding in space notwithstanding). Sure, in-universe I don't know why the suit's spine needs to represent the wearer's well-being, but it puts the health bar into the game instead of on top of it.

Health bars in in-game visors are kinda cheap. It's still a HUD for the player, it just moves around a little now.

I think Half-Life did the best of both worlds - the HEV suit explains that Gordon's well-being and ammo-count are being kept track of, but the display is old-fashioned. To be fair though, he gets minus points for getting winded faster when the lights are running (at least pre-Ep2)

Regenerating health as a concept is even dumber than running over first aid kits that litter streets, corridors and even the wilderness (or even space). One is a basic simulation of a gunsblazing hero patching himself up, the other is him walking away from 6 to 12 hours of constant enemy fire with little more than occasional blurry vision.
Or, in the case of Call of Duty, a gazillion reincarnations every 50 meters.

 

I quite liked the way Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway tackled this. It didnt have a health bar, but technically it didnt have regenerating health either.

When you pop your head out of cover for too long while the enemy is unsupressed, your screen starts to get red as the bullets whiz in your direction. You'll hear your squadmates yelling at you to get your head down, and if you dont listen, eventually one of those bullets will find its target and its game over.

 

I agree with TwilekJedi re: Dead Space. That game did a fantastic job of incorporating your health and ammo counters into the game itself without obscuring any of your vision.

 

There is a game that came out in '98 which I am quite fond of: Trespasser. It was labelled as the 'digital sequel' to The Lost World: Jurassic Park. I know its over a decade old but its still good (,there are unofficial patches that makes the game look much better and adds more of a challenge).

The health bar is represented as a heart tattoo on Anne's (the character you play) chest which to see it, you have to look down. It is out of the way and I find myself never really needing to check it as I'm more focused on the surroundings. There was no H.U.D. or crosshairs, you have to use the sights of the gun to aim and every now and then you will hear Anne tell you roughly how many shots you had left. Can only carry two objects at a time, and pick up and use things that you come across to defend yourself, like sticks, weapons, chairs, sledgehammer, etc. Even use the environments to your advantage. I found it worked well without a H.U.D.

 

I also like games where your health bar isn't shown unless you get hit, and then it appears for only a few seconds. That's a great way of keeping the screen uncluttered.

 

I like seeing a visual representation of how well my character is doing, mainly as has been stated, to calculate a risky decision or not. Like so: I've been playing a lot of GTAIV recently and some missions are downright impossible if you don't have enough health. So I always make sure to have a least 90% health before doing any sort of mission. Especially if it requires running from the cops. As for the 'no health/regenerate health' idea it's kind of fun, but always annoying. Doubly so if they make the heart-beating-rapidly-and-screen-red visual while slowing you down. I know it's 'realistic', but c'mon, it doesn't give you a chance to regenerate your health and it's also not very realistic if you've just had 12 bullets pumped into your body. Ghostbusters way of solving this problem was fairly good as well as everything was represented on your pack.

Anyway...it's just a rehash of points made earlier, but 'ehh....I feel strongly about keeping the health bar visual in the game. This whole feeling 'realistic' thing is annoying. Not every game needs to feel 'real' to be enjoyable.

Edit: We need more Counterstrike-ish health where a head-shot is insta-death and getting shot is almost insta-death. There you go. As realistic as possible.

 

Really depends on the game.

It works well in both Uncharted and Killzone 2. But in a game like Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2? No, not at all - you need the health bar in that.

So, as a tool or technique to go in the games toolbox? Definitely - as a set thing for all games? Absolutely not.

 

I wondered the same thing, then it hit me: Instant triage. After an accident, the rescue team can instantly tell who the most severely injured are.

 

I suppose that works. And hey, it's the future, maybe they simply took a cue from video games to display health somewhere, because it's a great idea

I'm glad we don't have that yet. In real life, your health goes down after eating a bag of chips

 

As far as regenerating health goes, I really don't mind either way as long as it works well with the game.

WET for example, has a health bar and it regenerates when you're not being shot at.

That ruined the flow of the game for me, as it's a game that's supposed to reward you for fast flowing combat and chaining combos together.

Most of the time I'd kill a few guys and then hide behind a corner while I waited for my health to regenerate, grinding the game to a halt and taking away the feeling of "omg I'm such a badass!"

So yeah, the health system in WET didn't work for me, maybe I was doing it wrong, but sometimes I felt like it was the only way to survive a battle.

 

It all depends on the game. Call of Duty works well with regenerating health, God of War works well with a health bar. I have no specific preference.

 

Call of Duty, at least 4, didn't look like it had health, only checkpoints and death. Which is an alternative I guess, but a very unfun one...

 

CoD uses the 'get shot too much in a short period of time and you die' style.

 

Yeah, which is exactly like the two games that prompted me to make this thread. We've come full circle.

 

And I'm not sure it works. How often has 100 Health provided gamers with that great moment where you emerge from an intense firefight with less than 10 health? Big punishment and you still accomplished something.
The other system... either you make it or you don't. I don't mind when Mario does that, but FPS-heroes? Duke Nukem is Forever rolling in his grave.

Sure, real soldiers either make it or don't, but I've always hates realistic games. It's an oxymoron to me, with emphasis on the "moron" part. Not to be confused with realism in games, as in look and feel. Otherwise I'd be a fan of flight simulators.


late edit: right, managers aren't allowed to write the less-than-sign

 

I am very old school, the more useful stats the better. So removing the health bar is a downside for me in any game that relies on it.

Examples of games that I would say wouldn't rely on it are: Realistic damage models and games that are so easy (read many) that you don't need it anyway.