The two most important accessibility concerns with “Prototype” are the precision and controls. Many events in this game are timed; both missions which advance the story and optional events, and quick-time events cannot usually be paused, requiring a player to return to the start of the event to try it again.

Furthermore, it is very easy to jump off of the wrong rooftop, consume the wrong target or in some other way make a very easy mistake which will either abort the mission or make it impossible to successfully complete.

Likewise, as a player levels their character, they can acquire additional abilities with increasingly complex control schemes. The controls cannot be remapped, requiring a player to remember the button sequences and press buttons quickly enough to activate that ability or attack. This concern makes the game seem very difficult for players with precision or motor function concerns, as well as for players who only have use of one hand.

While it may be possible for these gamers to play “Prototype,” it would likely be very difficult due to the number of attack commands, hijacking tanks and helicopters, and controlling adaptive parkour (free running across an environment).

Gamers with a form of color blindness may also experience problems with “Prototype.” Generally speaking, red and green are not used at the same time, although red is often used in the game on maps to indicate areas under the control of infected NPCs. Additionally, thermal vision views the world through a red hue, with infected NPCs glowing white. This may present a problem for some gamers, depending on the type of color blindness.

Deaf gamers fare somewhat better – “Prototype” letterboxes its mission-critical subtitles, some ambient character comments are subtitled and, perhaps most importantly, alarms in the game display a visual cue on screen and point in the direction of the alarm. While deaf gamers will not be able to experience all of the audio content, “Prototype” is largely accessible for the hearing impaired, and appears to be almost completely accessible for missions which advance the game.

At A Glance

Precision: Some missions have quick-time events which cannot be paused, missions are often timed. Recommend rating of 1 out of 10.

Deaf Gamers: Game-critical subtitling is letterboxed, and while ambient sounds are not subtitled, alarms do display an icon on-screen with an arrow pointing in the direction of the alarm. Recommend rating of 7 out of 10 for including a visual cue for an audio alert.

One-handed: There are a large number of controls with no option to remap the controller. Although people with use of only one hand may be able to play “Prototype,” it would likely be difficult. Recommend rating of 1 out of 10.

Subtitled: Game-critical subtitling is letterboxed, and while ambient sounds are not subtitled, alarms do display an icon on-screen with an arrow pointing in the direction of the alarm. Recommend rating of 7 out of 10 for including a visual cue for an audio alert.

Color Blind: Color is generally only used to indicate control of an area on a map. In thermal vision, the screen can be largely red with infected targets glowing a bright white. The only mission critical colors used are red and white. Recommend rating of 3 out of 10.