Gran Turismo 6 Do the menus seem too simplified and "X-box-ey" to you too?

[ducklord]

I played the latest GT6 for about one hour some days ago and although I liked how faster it seemed to load and move from menu to menu compared to GT5 (especially when that was first released as a crawling nightmare), but didn't like - at-all - the new design for the menus. It seemed to try to hard to mimic the new "tiled-flat" aesthetic started by Microsoft and further propagated by Google online, that's now started to appear in gaming as well.

I mean, glossy surfaces and nice shader effects DO have their place in game interfaces. Why go that simple on the interface of a game famous for its underlying complexity and mechanics? Why try to make "accessible to the masses" a game that's supposedly directed only to a small part of the general public, the car aficionados, that could tell you when your FIAT had its oil last checked just by sitting on the backseat?

THAT is what I call "bad simplification" of a game - and although the game itself seemed more fun to me, and I loved the way it presented its own mechanics as tutorials compared to the "lessons" of the past, its menus kept putting me off.

Am I the only one?

 

[troutski]

You're definitely the only one. The game menus are such a small part of the game, and would you prefer them to be overly complex and muddled? Because there are plenty of games that will give you that experience.

 

[utneqo7d]

You're definitely the only one. The game menus are such a small part of the game, and would you prefer them to be overly complex and muddled? Because there are plenty of games that will give you that experience.

Agreed, I've played a lot of games where it was hard to get the purpose of the menu and where things where way to overcomplicated. A simple menu makes a game 'easier' to get on with, especially when you don't need those 50 options before you can start the game. Of course, I can see some people would like a complex and interesting looking menu, though I think most of the people prefer to keep it simple, and have mainly the game be complex, not it's menus.

 

[ducklord]

I don't mean that its menus should be complicated as functionality goes, but more "design-y", like, say, the menus in Blur were, if you've played that. If you've heard about Google's Material Design and the new fad of "simplifying everything", I felt that GT6's menus were like that for no reason. It's a game. It shouldn't feel like a web app. But it did, at least to me.

It still feels like I'm visiting Google+, not actually running a game!

But, oh, well, I guess I'm on my own!

 

[utneqo7d]

I don't mean that its menus should be complicated as functionality goes, but more "design-y", like, say, the menus in Blur were, if you've played that. If you've heard about Google's Material Design and the new fad of "simplifying everything", I felt that GT6's menus were like that for no reason. It's a game. It shouldn't feel like a web app. But it did, at least to me.

It still feels like I'm visiting Google+, not actually running a game!

But, oh, well, I guess I'm on my own!

Oh like that, well, I don't really care about that, though I can understand why you would be annoyed because of that. Though I rather have a simplistic GUI which runs pretty fast than a bit more advanced GUI which makes the game load (a lot) longer.

 

[jcc]

I simply hate games that require loads of settings and checking through menus before you can start- I've waited ages for a game to arrive and I don't want to be stuck doing that. Instead, I want to get playing as soon as possible- and simplistic menus are therefore best. PS: I love Material Design. Don't mess with Material Design.

 

[GlacialDoom]

I agree with you on this matter. I hate this blocky trend, and it concerns me because it seems to appear in a lot of modern titles, such as all latest Ubisoft games and Ryse: Son of Rome. I love Google's Material Design, but I don't think that's even related to this.

 

[FuZyOn]

I would love if everyone would start implementing Material Design into their games, which is starting to grow really popular amongst a lot of companies. EA are starting to implement it in their titles (FIFA for now).

 

[spectre456]

I really don't mind the menus at all to be honest. I spent so little time on them that it doesn't make that big of a difference to me. If it had obnoxiously complicated ways to do simple things I would complain, but the aesthetics get a pass as long as it functions well.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

Video game companies do this is their latter games because they want to appeal to a more common audience. They first start out with complicated game mechanics, but as they create more sequels, they have to "dumb-down" their games to appeal to more people, as it would be hard for non-fans to follow it if they want to jump into the video game franchise. That's why you see more and more games these days simplified to the bone, and there's really nothing we can do about it.

 

[mauricioq]

I get what you're saying and I understand your opinion, but for me, they're perfectly fine and in terms of esthetic, they're great. Maybe it's just not your style. But yeah, like others have said, it's a small part of the game, you shouldn't think so much about it.

 

[sillylucy]

Hahah I like how you use "X-box-ey" to describe the design. As soon as you said it I knew exactly what you were talking about. I just want something simple to use and I want it to be easy for me to understand. I guess I am lazy!

 

[rz3300]

Well I did get a good laugh at the word "x-box-ey", and I am still trying to figure out if that is a good adjective or a bad one. I guess it can certainly be a positive, at least for me, when you are talking about the controllers, because I have always thought that was the strong point of the X Box. I did not really have an issue with the menus here, but now I am going to go back and see what the term might mean. Thanks for sharing.

 

[maestro]

I did like the menus maybe that is maybe because I did not pay that much attention to them. But it might also be because they were just fine.

 

[Writeratyourservice]

Agreed, I've played a lot of games where it was hard to get the purpose of the menu and where things where way to overcomplicated. A simple menu makes a game 'easier' to get on with, especially when you don't need those 50 options before you can start the game. Of course, I can see some people would like a complex and interesting looking menu, though I think most of the people prefer to keep it simple, and have mainly the game be complex, not it's menus.

Nice, that's interesting, friend.

 

[Writeratyourservice]

I did like the menus maybe that is maybe because I did not pay that much attention to them. But it might also be because they were just fine.

Yeah, I get your point my friend.

 

[maestro]

The menus are fine in my own opinion, I didn't see anything wrong with it. But then again I was busy enjoying GT6.

 

[walter12]

The menus are reasonable and don't need to change

 

[sidney]

The menus are ok, it did take some time to get used to, but I eventually got the hang of it.

 

[mynameisshieldler]

The menus are fine in my own opinion, I didn't see anything wrong with it. But then again I was busy enjoying GT6.

Yeah. I think so.