When Activision asked its internal studios to pitch creative support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the team at FreeStyleGames was keen to get involved. My focus was the front end, exploring how the UI could give one of gaming’s biggest franchises a stronger sense of identity and atmosphere.
At the time, first-person shooter menus often felt more like functional gateways than integral parts of the experience. I wanted the front end to carry the tone of the game while also providing a visual contrast to the relentless intensity of the action.
I explored several directions. Some drew on the FUI and dynamic military graphics already woven through the campaign intros and promotional material. Another adopted the visual language of live news coverage, reporting on the game’s global conflict and connecting the fiction more closely to the real world.
My favourite direction placed the interface within a world of ultra-slow-motion bullets and explosions. Menus drifted through suspended fragments of chaos, creating something cinematic, tense and stylised. The direction drew inspiration from the bullet-time aesthetic of The Matrix. I later noticed a somewhat similar approach in Split/Second, where it worked particularly well.
At the time, first-person shooter menus often felt more like functional gateways than integral parts of the experience. I wanted the front end to carry the tone of the game while also providing a visual contrast to the relentless intensity of the action.
I explored several directions. Some drew on the FUI and dynamic military graphics already woven through the campaign intros and promotional material. Another adopted the visual language of live news coverage, reporting on the game’s global conflict and connecting the fiction more closely to the real world.
My favourite direction placed the interface within a world of ultra-slow-motion bullets and explosions. Menus drifted through suspended fragments of chaos, creating something cinematic, tense and stylised. The direction drew inspiration from the bullet-time aesthetic of The Matrix. I later noticed a somewhat similar approach in Split/Second, where it worked particularly well.
