I’m sorry to say, but almost the entire article is picking nits at its basest form.

Yes. Interface Design and consequently Game Design is all about getting details right. There is a reason why Bungie gives entire talks about how they changed the reload time from 0.5 to 0.7 second on one of the rifles in Halo.
http://doublebuffered.com/2010/03/14/gdc-2010-design-in-detail-changing-the-time-between-shots-for-the-sniper-rifle-from-0-5-to-0-7-seconds-for-halo-3/

Shepard’s name on the bottom does not have the icon explaining that he is an AI controlled party member

Like many other icons in the game, that icon explains nothing. I guess It’s supposed to mean something, but there is no way of finding out what.

This gives plenty of space for a longer health bar

This argument makes no sense. Space is not a limitation here.

being the main character, it’s important to see how your health is, and the few pixels of length can help in that matter, and further assists players from differentiating between party members.

The few pixels hardly improve legibility. The opposite is true, because the bars are no visually grouped, the readability is reduced. It’s fundamental Gestalt psycholgy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestaltpsychologie). On top of that, they are sending the wrong message – that the characters have different amounts of health.

I agree that the highlighting the main character was probably the goal here. It’s a botched up attempt at doing so.

All it takes for a user to know what the icon below the medi-gel means, is to press Back once. It throws a grenade, and that will always be known from then on. Besides of course that this information is located in the instruction book, and the icon frequently appears when choosing grenade types.

The manual is a crutch. Especially for a modern game. It proves my point. Sure, players will learn what it is over time. But by then, there is no reason for that icon in the first place.

You call it a design flaw because you can’t compare two mouth shapes? I can’t even find the right words to describe how asinine of a prospect that is.

That’s ok. Wait until you are out of high school. Words will come easier with age. ;P

Why would you ever want to do that? Look at one, make your judgment on it. Move to another, consider it better. See another, realize it suits the face better.

“Comparisons must be enforced within the scope of the eyespan.” – Edward Tufe, from “Envisioning Information”. Good place to start thinking about Information Design. http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_ei

You seriously considering the text slightly leaning detracts from the experience is appalling. Shepard’s name on the bottom does not have the icon explaining that he is an AI controlled party member, making it extremely easy to see which bar of health is yours at a glance. This gives plenty of space for a longer health bar; being the main character, it’s important to see how your health is, and the few pixels of length can help in that matter, and further assists players from differentiating between party members.

All it takes for a user to know what the icon below the medi-gel means, is to press Back once. It throws a grenade, and that will always be known from then on. Besides of course that this information is located in the instruction book, and the icon frequently appears when choosing grenade types.

You call it a design flaw because you can’t compare two mouth shapes? I can’t even find the right words to describe how asinine of a prospect that is. Why would you ever want to do that? Look at one, make your judgment on it. Move to another, consider it better. See another, realize it suits the face better.

I’ll admit, I only read the first part of your ‘argument’, but I foresee more insignificant points that I just can’t bring myself to force my way through the rest. Frankly, I’m wondering if you constructed this article with the sole purpose of more views brought on by being controversial, calling a popular game into question usually does so.

Challenges like budget or time restrictions are certainly a big deal for game development. They can explain why something is designed poorly. However, they are no excuses for poor design. After all every game has to face similar challenges and it’s the very point of game development to deliver quality products within the restrains. Luckily, many games succeed where Mass Effect failed.

As for criticism being easier than craftmanship – sure, that’s true. However, doesn’t make criticism any less valid.

You raised a good a point about the localization. I once worked on an interesting project where the entire process of localization was bascially skipped by having ALL of the interface work with visual symbols. It was quite a challenge and only successful because it required some additional UI testing. So it wasn’t quite as effective as one might think at first. In the end, symbols are also things that need to be checked for localization issues.

But that’s besides the point. This is clearly not something this team was trying. Note that there is PLENTY of text in the UI otherwise. Using the 4 symbols didn’t save any significant resources at all.

You seem to have some insights into the process so if you have any other points to consider, don’t hesitate to share it here.

I have been working as a UI Designer in games for over 10 years and I enjoyed reading your ‘little’ review (all 3 of them).

There are some very valid points there, and it does make me question why certain design decisions have been made by the GUI designer on ME. I would also like to point out that some of your criticism and comments are made with very little knowledge of game development and processes, no offense intended. For example, using text instead of iconography is a very bad call in your case, you should be aware that one of the largest problems of UI development in games is localization, most AAA games get localized into many major language available inc. Japanese and Chinese. Localization creates many QA bugs, it effects production costs and time regardless of budget, time is money right? Some of these languages require text to be larger due to the readability issues. You also have to take into consideration multi-platform development, TRCs, safe-zones, milestones etc. Front-End design and HUD design in games is allot more complex than web design due to its dynamic nature.

For someone who is working on developing a Master course in game design, you take very little into consideration some of these technical limitations in game development. How many games have you developed as a UI designer? I would say that in your review you come across very naive, no offense intended.

I could point out many other issues raise as not very valid, unfortunately I have not time, sorry, deadlines, milestones and client requests are calling…

On the final I will leave you with this: Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship

PS: I would love to read more UI reviews for other games, even though we don’t have to agree I am still happy too see this part of game development is being discussed and covered. There is always something to learn.