There are at least five factors that in some way have a direct impact on the UI of a FPS; Level of Competition, Fiction Persuasiveness, Spatial Interaction, Rules Transparency, and Level of Vertigo.
The level of competition of the game determines whether an overlay 2D HUD might be a reasonable strategy or not. In games based heavily on narrative (level 1), designers might wanna go for an approach that pursues something that draws close to the notion of immersion, by working with diegesis and avoiding a traditional HUD breaking the illusion. However, the more competitive elements the game experience builds on, the importance of being able to make strategic gameplay decisions grows for the players; in pure multiplayer games (level 3), it is also important do make these decisions fast. Hence, ambiguous information should be avoided in these situations, which is most easily achieved with an overlay HUD.
The fictional persuasiveness of the game determines how important the notion of diegesis is to the game UI. In games with fiction that attempts to deliver a game world nearly identical to the real world during some time in history (level 3), slightest non-diegetic element might break player immersion. In games that delivers plausible worlds that are quite different from our own (level 2), diegesis might be just as important, but can be allowed by using artifacts and entities that builds on the game fiction (sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, etc). If a game does not try to hide the fact that it is an artifical world (level 1), the level of diegesis might not be an issue at all.
We think that when the 3D geometry affects gameplay, it also affects the UI regarding interface elements with spatial qualities. If the geometrical aspect of level design has no direct impact on gameplay (level 1), there is no or little need for UI elements presented spatially in the 3D space. However, as the importance of the geometry grows for the player (level 2, 3), the UI should support this by providing short-term navigational guidance and strengthening environmental affordances. If full diegesis is not a design goal, UI designers can work with spatial information such as the runner vision or checkpoint beacons in Mirror's Edge - if diegesis is important, signifiers might be a better tool.
The rules transparency of the game impact on how affordances is conveyed to the player, and the diegesis of the learning/tutorial approach of the game. If the game does not make the slightest attempt to hide the fact that it is governed by a rule framework (level 1), affordances can be conveyed by fairly straight-forward approaches such as pure textual feedback ("Press x to pick up weapon.") throughout the whole game. If this strategy is not desirable (level 2), designers should make an effort to restrict non-diegetic affordance references to a tutorial part of the game, and convey the rules in a somewhat more diegetic way ("You must find the fire escape ladder to gain access to the building" instead of "Find the exit to proceed to next level").
Finally, the level of vertigo determines how the game should make up for the fact that the only links to the perception of your in-game avatar are graphics, audio and rumble. If the gameplay is sensory-poor (level 1), this link is of less importance. However, as the gameplay draws on sensory-rich elements such as height or speed (level 2), the player needs to be linked closer to his/hers game-ego. This can be achieved by exaggerating (meta-representations, according to our previous terminology) and fortifying these senses visually, sound wise, or by rumble; for example blurring the edges of the screen (used in racing games, and Mirror's Edge) to indicate speed, or exaggerating traffic noises when jumping between rooftops.
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