For the past few weeks, it was generally thought that Dead Space wouldn’t have a pause menu. I actually liked this idea, as the game is meant to be scary and tense. What better way to encite fear than by removing the ability stop in the middle of a battle and rearrange your inventory or look at the map?  Sadly, more information has come up recently and it turns out that it was just a big misunderstanding. While Dead Space will not have a traditional pause menu, it will still allow for players to stop the action whenever they want. In an article on MTV Multiplayer, the developer explains exactly what the comment meant:

"I was saying is you don't pause to grab your ammo. You better ammo up before you begin your fight. Because you can't really be safe. [The combat] is happening live and in real time. The reason for me is that adds tension, because people are saying, 'S--, I've got to get more ammo. I've got to get more health.' That's what you want in a survival horror game. We're not going to make that incredibly difficult. You may have to back away from the fight. We're just trying to make you think out a little bit more."

I guess this is good enough for me. The fact that you will actually need to find a safe spot to do things like manage items or mess with your inventory will be a welcome addition to the idea of a survival horror. 

There are plenty of elements that people see as commonplace that are ripe for removal from certain genres. I wonder how much more tense games like BioShock would have been if not for the ample supply of medical packs, or how much more immersive Call of Duty 4 would have been without a radar or health bar. Certain aspects that the industry was founded on cannot be taboo, and developers need to take more risks like (I can’t believe I am saying this) Electronic Arts is taking with Dead Space.

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