User blog comment:Sammyfun1/The HUD?/@comment-3187795-20120125020948

In theory, the HUD is supposed to give you all necessary info in order to progress with whatever you are doing. This has much more info in games that are far removed from the player, and have ways to moniter what the character would already know. You can't really feel the pain of a flame boomer roasting your back, but the flames licking at the bottom of the screen with the yellow highlights on your burning flesh is a great help. Especially if the enemies declare their moves. But I digress. I love the fading health warning of Gears, but that also means that you must have your health regenerate. Tradeoffs. In Halo, shields are useful, in 007, grenade warnings are useful, in Metroid, the inventory of your armor is incredibly useful and detailed to explain what each object is. Scanning was a brilliant addition. Mario platformers show health if you are hurt, and on the opposite, the one zombie survival game where your health is available from a watch with no HUD to speak of. And contrary to most games, unless your character has notably good instincts, a mini map shouldn't show everyone if built for accuracy. Like Battlefield, where you are only shown if you made a sound. A toggle for aim is excellent in Gears, as you are rarely distracted from the impending doom that lurks over your shoulder. Button notices are crucial, though, because rarely do you know if a weapon or object is usable, when the player would for sure.

Which brings me to the conclusion: accuracy should not compromise gameplay. If you want to add info to the HUD that the character wouldn't know, you are risking accuracy. But don't just drop everything. In Gears, you can at least hide in defense, and still are told where and how badly you are injured. That minimal HUD works. However, if you want to try that with Halo, the public would prefer your version uncoded.