Games with fantastic menus
I like menus in video games. Like, seriously, you could call me a game menu connoisseur. Menu systems and UI stuff in general is one of the things in games that interests me the most. I'm looking to get into game design with the secret goal of one day being a UI director on a project or something. Too often I play games and it's just, like, "what the hell, why did they make moving between the different items in this menu feel so shitty?"
For me, personally, a game's menu system is a huge factor in deciding how much I like a game. When you turn on the game, the first thing you do is interact with main menu (and possibly a "Press Start" screen before it)%3B this sets the tone for the rest of the game in my eyes. Tim Rogers often talks about "friction" in games, using a variety of silly metaphors and adjectives%3B I think%26nbsp%3BI'm talking about the same thing (but I'm not entirely sure).
Menus are one of those things in games that people don't tend to think about, including the developers. Too often, games will let their menus be clunky and poorly-designed, and it just detracts from the overall experience that the end user has. At least, it does for me%3B I'm no psychologist, but I'm pretty sure that if more games had slicker menu systems, people would enjoy them even more.
This is an incomplete list, as I'm sure there's several that I'm missing, so post a comment below if you know of some games with great menus that I haven't listed here%3B I'll be more than happy to check it out.
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