Accessibility Issues / Concerns

Generally speaking, Medal of Honor feels fairly accessible, perhaps more accessible than other similar titles.

The largest accessibility concern, similar to other FPS games, is precision. Gamers who have motor function concerns or issues with precision will likely find a lot of difficulty. Players will have to aim and fire sniper rifles, drive vehicles, fire at moving targets from moving vehicles and so forth.

This range of activities is consistent with other FPS games such as Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2, gamers with precision or motor function concerns who have experienced difficulties with those games, or found them accessible, will probably have a similar experience with Medal of Honor.

Gamers with a form of color blindness are likely to experience fewer challenges here than in Modern Warfare 2 or Bad Company 2, largely due to the game being set exclusively in Afghanistan, meaning that players will not have to adjust to a large variety of background colors.

Furthermore, there are three primary uses of color which may be problematic – sights, wounds and night-vision devices.

Consistent with other FPS games in contemporary settings, Medal of Honor makes use of red-dot and holographic sights. While it’s true that the background is often tan, orange or red, potentially making it difficult to see the dot, there is a limited palette of background colors, making it easier for a player with a form of color blindness to differentiate the sight from the background.

Wound severity is also shown as blood spatter at the edges of the screen; while red is used for meaning, the blood spatter is an alternate visual cue to alert players to declining health. NPCs in the game will usually tell you to take cover to heal.

Finally, the night-vision devices turn everything to a shade of green. When a player is likely to be wounded while using a night-vision device, the blood spatter serves as the visual cue of being wounded and, again, NPCs will usually tell the player to get under cover and heal.

One handed gamers have two separate controller configurations which offer a toggle to aim function; the Marksman layout in particular seems tailored for gamers with use of one hand by using the right stick to turn, clicking the right stick to toggle aim, the right trigger to fire and the right bumper to throw a grenade.

Remaining accessibility concerns are trivial; while subtitles are not letterboxed and don’t identify the speaker, they are in a high-contrast sans serif font, which is both highly legible and readable. In addition, ambient chatter and contextual directions (such as “take cover,” etc.) appear to be frequently subtitled.

While some games create accessibility issues by not offering sufficient checkpoints or save options, this game provides a checkpoint at regular intervals, especially after a significant battle.

Gamers with accessibility concerns who found the Modern Warfare or the Bad Company series too problematic for their particular disabilities may wind up enjoying Medal of Honor; perhaps in the end, the way that Medal of Honor differentiates itself from its competition is by simply doing the little things right and by making sure it’s a game that most people can play. In doing so, it once again pays tribute to the troops it honors – this time, by making sure that disabled veterans are able to play too.

At A Glance

Precision: As is common with other first-person shooters, a significant amount of precision is required, including shooting targets during quick-time events, guiding bombs to targets, painting targets for air strikes and strafing runs, driving vehicles, shooting from moving vehicles at moving targets, and so on. Recommend rating of 0 out of 10 for all game modes.

Deaf Gamers: Subtitles are high-contrast sans serif text without letterboxing. They are both highly readable and legible. However, subtitles must be enabled through the options menu. Speakers are not identified. Contextual instructions (in-game warnings and directions from NPCs) and atmospheric chatter is largely subtitled. Recommend rating of 8 out of 10 for single-player campaign and Tier 1 Mode, 1 out of 10 for online multiplayer.

One-handed: No controller remapping is possible. Medal of Honor includes two controller configurations with aim toggle (i.e. click to aim, click again to leave aiming) functions. Controls are significantly similar to other first-person shooters. Recommend rating of 5 out of 10 for single-player campaign and Tier 1 Mode, 0 out of 10 for online multiplayer.

Subtitled: Subtitles are high-contrast sans serif text without letterboxing. They are highly readable and legible. However, subtitles must be enabled through the options menu. Recommend rating of 8 out of 10.

Color Blind: As is the case with most first-person shooters in a contemporary setting, weapons often have red-dot and holographic sights which may present concerns for players with a form of color blindness since Medal Of Honor is set in Afghanistan, and frequently features snow and desert backgrounds with colors of white, and tan to red. Using night-vision devices will display the game in green while active, and the game uses red blood spatter at the periphery of the screen to indicate the severity of wounds, much like the Bad Company games do. There are no puzzles which require players to discern between green and red, or blue and yellow. Recommend rating of 7 out of 10 for all game modes.

Checkpoint / Save System: Medal of Honor uses a checkpoint system with no option for saving. Checkpoints seem fairly frequent, usually occurring immediately following a battle, so players don’t lose too much progress when restarting from the previous checkpoint.