Fable 2 won't have heads-up display, pre-rendered cut scenes

by Griffin McElroy { Jul 13th 2008 at 3:30PM }

Heads-up displays? Pre-rendered cut scenes? Those are so 2004. Realistic visual indicators of your character's status and interactive cut scenes are all the rage in the salons, and most trendy developers have included one of these features into their recent blockbuster titles. Lionhead Studios, however, have elected to include both in their upcoming canine-friendly adventure, Fable 2. They're like the Isaac Mizrahi of video game development.

This report comes from OXM, who recently got a chance to play a content-complete version of the much-anticipated title. According to them, Lionhead has eschewed the inclusion of the standard action-RPG health and mana/magic/energy bars in favor of a screen uncluttered. They also claim that "non-interactive cinematics take up less than five minutes" of Fable 2, making us wonder if Peter Molyneux is actually the Bizarro World version of Hideo Kojima.

Tags: cut-scene, fable, fable-2, heads-up-display, hud, lionhead, lionhead-studios, peter-molyneux

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

LordChimp @ Jul 13th 2008 3:44PM

I have always liked a HUDless look in games. My only concern is how will you know when your health is low?

Saria the Cat @ Jul 13th 2008 4:14PM

As long as there's none of that Silent Hill 2 health indicator business, I'll be happy. Gauging how red and flickery a little square is on your screen can be difficult when you're viewing it on an ancient tube. I know I need to upgrade to an HDTV, but until then, I hope the protagonist's battle scars and dirt and other health indicators won't require severe eyestrain for us cheapskates.

J @ Jul 13th 2008 4:16PM

silent hill and resident evil games had u walking differently based on ur health. You could always press start and go to the menu to know ur health in a little window. If the window was flashing red or steady green, it would give u an idea of how close to death ur character is. That was for silent hill 2, and something like that for re1,2,3. I don't really remember.

J @ Jul 13th 2008 4:29PM

that's part of the excitement for colorblind ppl like me saria! Is it red?! it it green?! Luckily for me, the flashing gave it away that the character's near death and his staggering. Well i'm not that colorblind, but you get my point.

Saria the Cat @ Jul 13th 2008 4:44PM

@J: Haha, your colorblindness joke made me smile. Your excitement was probably my paranoia when I tried to decipher it. I didn't mind the red/green, but it was the red versus redder red versus flickier redder red. There was the stumbling, I'll admit, but I never like getting to that point.

DoctaDJones @ Jul 13th 2008 5:55PM

I ended up playing most of Assasin's Creed with no HUD and found it to be a lot more fun (and harder) without it.

The audio cues were enough to alert me of danger off screen. And when health was low Altair would start to "desync" and the screen would get blurry, much more immersive than a health bar

Mike @ Jul 13th 2008 6:38PM

I feel your pain, J. I'm colorblind myself.

vdeogmer @ Jul 14th 2008 2:15AM

Oh really Mike? What color shirt am I wearing?

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jul 13th 2008 3:45PM

I have no problem with them dropping a health/mana bar. YOu should be able to tell how much health you have just by the way your character looks.

Benny @ Jul 13th 2008 3:46PM

I'm actually stoked about this. Though it wasn't the best game in the world, King Kong felt incredibly cinematic due to it's lack of a HUD.

Dr. Stabbingworth @ Jul 13th 2008 7:38PM

And Assassin's Creed was marred by the HUD. It'd be nice if game makers realized this.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Jul 13th 2008 3:50PM

Didn't they announce this like...a year and a half ago?

Still, I like.

mcatrage @ Jul 13th 2008 4:06PM

I hope at E3 we get some gameplay footage so we can see it in action. What I really want is an official release date not just hoping for October.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jul 13th 2008 4:11PM

lol what? Have you not been paying attention to the Diary vids?

Jakka @ Jul 13th 2008 4:14PM

I wouldn't exactly call them credible since all of them featured the now infamous health bar.

reign-♥-of-♥-love @ Jul 13th 2008 4:33PM

sooooo....
they will have a health bar?
im sorry but your paragraph is so convoluted and cluttered with idioms that are meaningless without clicking on some sort of link or knowing what the hades ur talking about. i have 2 more years of college but i still dont know what eschewed means.

RanWitScissorz @ Jul 13th 2008 4:38PM

I guess they don't teach kids what a dictionary is these days.

eschew - to avoid habitually especially on moral or practical grounds

reign-♥-of-♥-love @ Jul 13th 2008 4:45PM

yeah. i dont come to the internets with a dictionary in hand. or have the patience to open a new tab and copy paste it on the google toolbar.
but besides that, i like hudless games. that make up for it with blood on the screen to know ur loosing the fight.

Saria the Cat @ Jul 13th 2008 4:48PM

Wow, if you're having trouble reading a Joystiq article, I can't imagine you being able to comprehend college-level textbooks or peer-reviewed journal articles. If you want babble-de-gook (yes, I went there), try reading Robert Lancaster's article on Bioreductivism.

reign-♥-of-♥-love @ Jul 13th 2008 4:50PM

ha. no thanks. A&P is just fine for me.

j.howlett @ Jul 13th 2008 4:35PM

i like HUDs. i can manage without them once i get used to how the game works, but as long as the information is well organised and legible i want to see it. gta4 annoyed me with the clock thing.

j.howlett @ Jul 13th 2008 9:28PM

another reason is i know its not me and i have rarely played a game where the character looks anything like me. i didn't feel i was lara croft but i felt the sense of danger for her. i'm not a space pirate cyber ninja robin hood but i can feel victory or defeat with yoshimitsu. when i'm in vice city as tommy or vic i need to know where i am, where i'm going, what gun i have and how much ammo.