[GameSpot] - Halo Infinite Is "Not Wonderful For Accessibility," Says Can I Play That?

[343iBot]

Reviews for Halo Infinite's single-player campaign are finally out in the wild, and while a majority of them focus on how the game's guns feel or its open world, Can I Play That? has reviewed the game based on its accessibility. In that regard, the outlet's editor-in-chief, Ben Bayliss, has described the latest entry in the Halo franchise as "not wonderful for accessibility."

Here's my accessibility review on Halo Infinite which ended up getting a 5.5/10 due to numerous factors
Small HUD and text with illegible stylisation
Small subtitles
Hard to see Waypoints
Directional indications are rough
The open-world is tiring https://t.co/Qpyf6bCRPX

— Ben Bayliss (@Ben_Bayliss) December 6, 2021

The review, which gives the game an accessibility score of 5.5/10, criticized the game for its small HUD and text, which made it difficult to read any of the game's lore or even tell what kind of grenade was selected. The same issue applied to Halo Infinite's subtitles, which weren't large enough even at their maximum size. However, players are able to change the color of the text in subtitles and even assign colors to certain speakers, like enemies or allies.

Halo Infinite's grappleshot, one of its new pieces of equipment that lets players sling themselves around maps like a heavily-armored Spider-Man, also came under fire in the review due to its reticle. When aiming at a surface that's close enough to be hit with the grappleshot, the center of the game's reticle fills with a yellow indicator. According to Bayliss, "This indicator is horrendously small," and left the tool unusable in the heat of battle.

Despite these issues with the game, and many others, Halo Infinite is still "the most accessible Halo game to date," according to the review, setting a rather low bar for the franchise. While developer 343 Industries is working on making Halo more accessible, Xbox has been doing the same, having integrated a slew of accessibility improvements to the platform earlier this year.

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