10 Best Video Game User Interfaces
2. Dead Space
No discussion of gaming UIs could possibly be complete without Dead Space, which in many ways remains the gold standard for third-person action game menu design.
The sci-fi survival horror classic ingeniously ditched all manner of a traditional UI, instead injecting all the vital information into the game world itself - another killer example of a diegetic interface.
Most brilliantly, protagonist Isaac's health and stasis meters are displayed on the back of his armour, ensuring players never have to peer away from the focal point of the action to manage their vital statistics.
Better still, every other aspect of the UI - inventory management and maps, for example - are holographically projected in the game, which also never pauses while you navigate them.
It's a design choice which not only provides a plausible and appropriate explanation for the menus, but also heightens the tension by allowing players to be attacked in a state where they'd typically be safe.
More than a decade later, it's surprising that more developers haven't wantonly ripped off such an inspired aspect of game design - it'd be tough to blame them.