Dirt Showdown is a pothole of accessibility. Over the course of the last few releases from Codemasters – most relevantly: Dirt 2 and Dirt 3, they’ve pretty much established themselves as being a developer and publisher that wants to be as inclusive as possible where driving is concerned. They’ve got a lot to learn about visual and hearing accessibility but the mobile accessibility of their games is fairly solid. Again, and a bit more bitterly this time – Dirt Showdown is a pothole of accessibility.

Dirt Showdown isn’t so much a rally racing game like the proper Dirt titles, it’s more along the lines of events that might be expected to be seen at fairgrounds; there are the freestyle events, block breaking events, and even a little bit of actual racing, but by and large, they’re the inaccessible events from mostly accessible games. Even the racing is a bit inaccessible as obstacles have made their way to the track in an effort to force players to use the whole track instead of just leaving them be in their comfort zone.

Adding to the inaccessibility of the events found in Dirt Showdown are sumo-type events where the object is to knock the competition of the platform while being knocked off as little as possible. There are also demolition derby type events where the goal is to smash every other vehicle while being as unscathed as possible – this event manifests itself in two ways; both are timed, but one variant sees players try to survive while the other sees players do as much damage as can possibly be done. There is a racing type freestyle event wherein players compete against the clock to make it through an obstacle course while trying to finish as quickly as possible. Similarly there is an event which sees the player compete head-to-head with an opponent in a freestyle race from point A to point B. Also there are figure-8 racing events where it’s not enough to just win the race, players also have to survive.

Basically, there are a lot of different event types to be seen in Dirt Showdown, but none of them are really accessible events.

Even though there aren’t any driving assists to be used at any point during the game, the driving is solid and in my opinion is as solid as that found in previous iterations of the proper Dirt games with a number of driving assists turned on which means there is no option to turn them off. Once more, Dirt Showdown is a pothole of accessibility.

The two positive options provided to those with mobility issues are; three difficulty levels (which continues the theme of decreased options from the proper Dirt games to Dirt Showdown), and control schemes that can be customized to the player’s preferred device be it keyboard or controller (no mouse-only control).
Another positive of Dirt Showdown is that no disadvantage is to be had if the game isn’t heard as Codemasters proves why they’re at the forefront of the racing genre; from the starting lights being able to be easily seen which is synced well with the sounds that count down to the player being able to more than just rev the engine. Crashing is also really nicely done; it may actually be missing a sound or two to go with the visual – unless during a crash we’re assuming the sound inside/on/around the vehicle would be muted. With the right spin, this could be a slight victory for the soundless.

Conversely, there are no subtitles or captions to be read in Dirt Showdown. Though it doesn’t really detract from the racing by not having them, captions and subtitles need to appear if there is dialogue – no matter what. Because Codemasters is working from a one-hundred percent clean slate, subtitles need to be letterboxed (black) with a highly contrasting color used for the font (white) which should be easily read (both in font and size)… Even if those subtitles are largely cliché, repetitive, and sometimes even condescending.
Having saved the best for last, Codemasters pulls a jackass move by including in Dirt Showdown a race-type where players are tasked with driving through red, green, blue and yellow boxes faster than the rest of the field. There are a lot of problems that stem from this event; it’s timed and there is no way to slow the game to accommodate those needing this accommodation, there is no racing line or other accommodation to make this event more playable for those who are colorblind, the announcer takes shots at the player for being colorblind when colorblindness is a continued reason for the players failure in the event, and lastly, there are no subtitles so those with both hearing impairments and color issues when they’re being mocked by a game they laid money down to play.

Visuals are otherwise good. They’re on-par with Codemasters’ other, more accessible games.

Mobility
No button mashing
Wrong genre - no button mashing in racing games.

No precision needed
Whether following the racing line or not, precision is needed whether playing online or off. Some narrower parts of the track make it necessary to pass through cleanly in order to win.

Remap-able keys
Gamepads and keyboards alike are completely remap-able.

Can play with only the mouse
No mouse controls to be found.

Can play with only the keyboard
Keyboard can be used and can be customized to fit each individual player.

On-screen keyboard functions properly
No on-screen keyboard to be found.

Can move UI elements
UI objects are immovable objects.

No mandatory quick time events
Wrong genre again.

Camera/mouse sensitivity
There are no sensitivity options to make the game more playable for those who need them.
Timing of movement/button pressing not important

Racing can be a touchy ordeal where timing movements is involved. Whether trying to race cleanly, or doing your best to be dirty, racing on surfaces not necessarily meant to be raced upon isn’t going to be easy and corrections will need to be made at several points along the way to the finish.

Difficulty levels
Three difficulty levels are available to players.

Game Assists
There are no game assists in Dirt Showdown.

Visual
Font color can be changed
The colors within the menus cannot be altered to fit the player, though the menus are made to be easily read.

There are no subtitles in the game to need to change the color of.
Font size/type can be changed
See above.

Game presented in high contrast
The game itself presents itself in no higher contrast than could be found in any of the areas featured in the game as they would be found in the real world, but thanks to different models of cars and different liveries, players are able to choose a livery in which might better contrast the terrain.

This only solves part of the problem; provided racing lines do not always contrast well against the tracks they appear on, and some of those tracks don’t have very clearly marked edges…. Then there are tracks that aren’t really tracks at all – some of which may better qualify as arenas or even partially wide-open spaces.

Colorblind options are present or not needed
Colorblind options aren’t present but are very much needed; in particular the block breaking events which make use of red, green, blue and yellow. Red and green and blue and yellow are color combinations which can present issues for some colorblind individuals. The brightly used shades of green and yellow are also so similar that yet another type of colorblindness can be affected.

These four colors are used in the form of colored blocks to be smashed in a timed block-breaking event. There are no borders around the blocks to separate the colors – a black line around the edges of each block would go so far to help this but there’s none in sight.

At least three types of colorblindness are potentially alienated by the way this one event is put together, and to make things worse than that, the announcer makes fun of the player for being colorblind.

Subtitles are easy to read
Subtitles are non-existent in this game.

Subtitles are letterboxed
No subtitles are to be found in Dirt: Showdown.

Game menus are easy to see/read/use
Game menus are as easy to read as can be expected of Codemasters.

Key elements of the game are identified by red and green
Not only are key elements of the game highlighted by green and red but the same key elements are identified using blue and yellow. These four colors make for a number of less-than ideal combinations for those affected by different types of color blindness. The way these colors are used isn’t really optimal even if not color blind – or at least not thought to be colorblind.

Hearing
Subtitles are present
No subtitles or captions to be found within; there isn’t all that much to miss as all the witty banter of the announcer is sometimes better off not there.

Ambient noise is included
Move on. There’s nothing to see here.

Identifies speaker
See above.

All audio cues are accompanied by visual cues
All of the information player’s need to successfully play the game can be seen, heard, and on occasion felt...

Game can be successfully completed without sound
Whether sound is optional for the player or not, Dirt: Showdown can be completed without issue.