The theme this month in our game accessibility feature is useless UIs, tiny subtitles, and questionable subtitle practices. And then there’s a Naughty Dog game, which we’ll get to after looking back at the other big releases in June.Starting us off on the wrong foot this month is Disintegration. The gist of this game is …
The theme this month in our game accessibility feature is useless UIs, tiny subtitles, and questionable subtitle practices. And then there’s a Naughty Dog game, which we’ll get to after looking back at the other big releases in June.
Starting us off on the wrong foot this month is Disintegration. The gist of this game is floaty FPS/strategic combat with robots that humans have elected to have their brains deposited in to make them invulnerable to, well, everything. I wouldn’t mind being integrated into a robot right now myself, if I’m being honest. The combat is unique and it feels pretty good but my fun is hindered by far too many “what on earth were they thinking?!” moments throughout the start of the game.
The most glaring issues right from the start are the tiny, tiny UI text and the very limited control options. There are only two control schemes available and you have to be on top of your screen to be able to read the button assignments and options text. Luckily, “Option Two” remedies unintuitive Gravcycle controls and instead of binding moving up and down with L1 and L2, rebinds them to R1 and L1.
The second problem is the subtitle text. Where to even begin? First of all, like the UI text, it’s tiny. Nobody can read that. Second, there’s no background so when you’re out in the game world which is often much brighter than the garage, you can’t see them. Third, I’m not trying to read a book, I’m trying to play a game and read dialogue. I hate to inform you but just plopping ALL of your subtitle text onto the screen at once isn’t the way to avoid having to time your subtitles.
In case that first paragraph wasn’t enough, here’s another. And here you can see where contrast between the text and the background becomes an issue as well. The one saving grace for this mess is that the novel-length text doesn’t disappear until you press a button. So at least you’ve got ample time to read your novel, I guess.
Now let’s get back to that UI. They’re supposed to serve a purpose, right? User Interface seems to indicate that the user is supposed to be able to interface with it. I’m about six feet away from my TV here, a comfortable distance at which I can enjoy most games while also taking in the splendor of my dog. In most games, I’m able to make out at least enough of the UI at this distance for it to still be useful. But in Disintegration, with its varying shades of blue and only blue for all the UI things, paired with tiny icons, the only thing that actually helps me is the reticle. I can see where I’m shooting and where I’m guiding my crew to. This game is in dire need of some contrasting colors and a boost in size for so many things.
That’s not to say developer V1 Interactive got it all wrong. Your Gravcycle is equipped with a very helpful scan mode that tags all nearby enemies, exploding things, and collectibles. There’s also a handy icon with directional arrows that displays on screen any time new enemies come into the area via hover car (Gravehicle?)
All dialogue is subtitled, albeit microscopically, including your crew members shouting the location of approaching enemies. This, paired with the scanning ability, make for a decent experience for deaf and hard of hearing gamers. Blind and low-vision players and players with limited mobility who rely on being able to remap buttons will very likely find Disintegration difficult, if not impossible to play, due to its lack of controller remapping, limited control scheme options, and the fact that everything is just so tiny.
If nautical nonsense be something you wish, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated came out this month. On the surface, the remastered SpongeBob and Co. is a delight to play. It’s bright and colorful, lighthearted, and for anyone such as myself who spent their late teenage years singing along to the theme song, there’s a good bit of nostalgia hearing the square yellow guy’s signature laugh. But the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.
The strangest thing I came across in this game is the complete lack of a control scheme graphic. There are no remapping options, which is unsurprising considering this is a remaster. But one would think there would at least be something to jog your memory as to what button does what, right? Surely those of us with hundreds of games and thousands of other things on our minds aren’t expected to just remember what every single button does? Wrong. Players are told once and never again, unless they travel back to the starting area and re-read the little tutorial signs.
