What kind of interface do you like/want?

[happydog]

I was at lunch with some friends and we got to talking about game interfaces (menus mainly). We all agreed that in general the menu systems being made now days suck. Personally I like the good old fashioned logo on top, plain text menu items, all placed on a black background. Sure it is kind of boring, but I don't look at the menu for entertainment in the game, I look to the game itself for that.

So what do you like, dislike or want in your game menus and interfaces?

[Eco-Logic]

I don't really care as long as it's intuitive.

One thing I don't like though, is when a game requires you to create a profile regardless what type of game you choose to play.  What if I don't want to save my progress?  What If I just borrowed the game from a friend and want to play one quick game ?  

I think profile creation should be limited to season/campaign/story modes only.

[Nth Power]

It needs to be clean, readable and organized.  It also has to be easy to navigate.  It's annoying when you need to open to another menu screen when the information could have been displayed on the current one.

[Doopri]

One word - Riddick hehehe.  Seriously - they hyped it and it was awesome but for one reason especially - speed.  A menu CAN'T be slow - I've played games where it's basically a mini load from the time I hit the button to when it actually opens up the submenu - this is unacceptable.  I'm not a complete twitch and am actually a lil' bit forgiving of load time in games (unless it's ridiculous of course) but a menu should be bottom line smooth.  After that I'm pretty much happy

[Balshazaar]

The out-of-game interface in Burnout 3 sucks.  I liked the pre-EA frontend much better.

[whiteboyskim]

One word - Riddick hehehe.  Seriously - they hyped it and it was awesome but for one reason especially - speed.  A menu CAN'T be slow - I've played games where it's basically a mini load from the time I hit the button to when it actually opens up the submenu - this is unacceptable.  I'm not a complete twitch and am actually a lil' bit forgiving of load time in games (unless it's ridiculous of course) but a menu should be bottom line smooth.  After that I'm pretty much happy

I was going to bring up Riddick as well. It's stylish, clean and organized and fast to get through, all of which equal the way to do it right. Conversely, look at the increasingly strange choices made in the Final Fantasy series, and good lord look at SWG for a pain in the arse menu system. When I was still playing that if I took more than a week off I was screwed, because I'd go back in and have to re-teach myself how to play it again.

[stiffler]

All this Riddick talk!

A heads up to those that avoided the $50 price of admission (it's reportedly a short game):  it's available at Best Buy for $29 new.  Just picked up a copy!

[archipelago]

As long as it does not compromise the usability, I really latch on to interfaces that proport to be a part of the game world - my favourite being ole Pipboy from the Fallout games, complete with chipped paint, exposed wires and green CRT displays.

I remember liking the fast stylized interfaces of the Wipeout series as well. There was just something about the Designers Republic work that spoke to me - again, it seemed like it could exist naturally in the Wipeout future.