We've documented 30 accessibility features for Need For Speed, including Fully Voiced (Or No Speech), Large Subtitles, Control Assists, Select Difficulty and Play Without Hearing. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Getting Started but it also has features in Reading, Communication, Visual, Navigation, Difficulty and Audio to reduce unintended barriers.
This report is created with input from accessibility experts and the player community to help people find games that have the accessibility features they require. Once you have found potential games on the database, there are excellent specialist accessibility sites that offer in-depth reviews to guide your purchasing decisions.
Our accessibility examiner, Jonah Monaghan, first checked Need For Speed (Series) accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Ben Kendall and updated 18 months ago.
Accessibility Notes
- Menu Narration
- Low-Vision Onboarding
Have only been confirmed in Need for Speed: Heat.
By selecting the Automatic gearbox type in the settings, you don't have to manually change gears, reducing the required controls.
While you can disable motion blur, the fast speeds and tight turns required to play mean that motion sickness is always a possibility.
Game Details
Release Date: 08/11/2019
Price: 93% off
Out Now: PC, PS3, PS4 and Xbox One
Players: 1 (16 online)
Genres: Race (Action and Narrative)
Accessibility: 30 features
Components: 3D Third-Person and Open World
Developer: Ghost Games EA (@GhostGamesEA)
Costs: Purchase cost, In-Game Purchases and In-Game Pass
Controls
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Controls in Need For Speed which deal with how you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.
Gamepad
Can play with the following:
Multiple Buttons & Two Sticks: Can play with multiple buttons and two sticks.
Mouse And Keyboard
Can play with the following:
Keyboard Alone: Can play with just the keyboard.
Remap Controls
Can customise the controls for the game as follows:
Remap Mouse and Keyboard: Can remap mouse and keyboard key bindings, on systems that support these controls.
Controller Vibration
Vibration Optional: Controller vibration not used in the game or you can disable it.
Informative Vibration: Controller vibration indicates events or interactions in the game, echoing visual and audio cues. This can provide additional information about progress, approaching enemies or hitting a target.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls
If you want to play Need For Speed, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
- The Crew Motorfest (12 Controls Features)
- Forza Horizon 5 (12 Controls Features)
- Forza Horizon 4 (12 Controls Features)
- Gran Turismo (12 Controls Features)
Difficulty
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in Need For Speed which deal with how you can adjust the challenge of play, and whether this is locked once chosen or can be adjusted as you play.
Difficulty Options
Select Difficulty: Select the level of difficulty from a range of presets. This not only offers a way to adjust the challenge of a game but enables you to do so without dealing with individual criteria.
Adjust After Setting
Adjustable Anytime: You can adjust the difficulty while playing, without having to restart the level you are on. This enables you to quickly adjust the game to suit your needs and see the difference immediately.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Difficulty
If you want to play Need For Speed, but it doesn't offer the Difficulty accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Difficulty accessibility:
- Forza Motorsport 7 (3 Difficulty Features)
Getting Started
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Getting Started in Need For Speed which deal with what support is offered to get started with the game. This includes customising the experience when you first open the game via any onboarding processes it provides as well as tutorials and other assistance when you first start playing.
Onboarding Before Play
Before you are presented with the home screen, onboarding settings aim to aid you accessing the menus you need to adjust the game to your requirements. They can also provide an easier way of turning on important adjustments without digging through menus.
Low Vision Onboarding: The first time you open the game, the default text is high contrast and font size is at least 1/20 (46 pixels on 1080 screen) the height of the screen and in an easy to read font. This enables legally blind visually impaired players to get ready to play.
Assistance Getting Starting
These features aid your play of the game in terms of cognitive load on learning controls, dealing with pressure and coping with the environment and challenges.
Tutorials: There are helpful tutorials and instructions on how to play. Information is provided in a timely manner, with appropriate level of detail.
Practice Area: You can practice freely without opponents or time pressures. This can be a specific practice option, or the ability to play levels with the easiest opponents to improve understanding and skill.
View Control Mapping: You can view a map of controls during play. This clearly displays the mappings of actions to buttons/keys/mouse/keyboard without having to leave the game. This includes games that always display buttons to press during play.
Assistance With Controls: The game can automatically assist with aiming, steering, reloading, jumping, running etc. This reduces the challenge of certain aspects of play to remove barriers and make control of characters more accessible.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Getting Started
If you want to play Need For Speed, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:
- Forza Horizon 5 (8 Getting Started Features)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (6 Getting Started Features)
- Flower (6 Getting Started Features)
- Gran Turismo (6 Getting Started Features)
Reading
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Reading in Need For Speed which deal with how much reading or listening comprehension is required, how well the game provides visual and audible access to the text and whether subtitles and captions are a good fit for purpose.
Reading Level
How much reading is required to play the game's main path or story and how complex the language is. The presence of voiced characters doesn't reduce this requirement, as it's recorded as a separate datapoint.
Simple Minimal Reading: Minimal reading is required. The quantity and complexity of reading are at a level that a primary/elementary student (9-year-old) could understand.
Subtitles
Large Clear Subtitles: Subtitles are large, clear and of good contrast. They are at least 1/20 (46 pixels on 1080 screen) the height of a landscape screen and at least 1/40 height on portrait screens, or can be adjusted to be. We base this on the full line-height, including the space above and below the letters. Considered separately from the general text of the game, the subtitles are large, clear and of good contrast.
All Speech Subtitled (Or No Speech In Game): All spoken content has subtitles, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to hear spoken dialogue or narrative to play the game.
Captions
Speaker Indicator: Textual captions indicate who is speaking (or there is only ever one person speaking). This can also be indicated visually in the game with character icons or placing text in speech bubbles next to the person speaking.
Voice Acted
All Dialogue is Voice Acted (Or No Speech In Game): All of the game dialogue and narrative can be voiced, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to read the dialogue and narrative text to play the game.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading
If you want to play Need For Speed, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Reading accessibility:
- Forza Horizon 5 (7 Reading Features)
Navigation
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Navigation in Need For Speed which deal with how the game provides guidance and assistance to navigate its worlds. These are only for games that have traversal and exploration in 2D and 3D spaces.
Clarity
Large Clear Navigation: The in-game navigation and maps are clear to read. They offer large text and offer markers that are large and of high contrast. Where text or information is small, there are settings to zoom-in and increase visibility.
Head-Up Display
Game Map: View a map of the game world during play, with the landscape, points of interest and missions highlighted throughout the entire game. This enables the orientation of the player and the world, confirming a direction of movement and the location of destinations or points of exploration.
Menu Navigation
Menu Narrated: All of the game menus can be narrated for easier navigation. The game menus can therefore be navigated without reading text.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation
If you want to play Need For Speed, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:
- Forza Horizon 5 (10 Navigation Features)
- The Crew Motorfest (8 Navigation Features)
- The Crew 2 (8 Navigation Features)
- Grand Theft Auto V (5 Navigation Features)
Visual
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Visual in Need For Speed which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.
Contrast
Medium Contrast: Game uses generally well contrasting and bright visuals, or has a slider to make this the case.
Interactive Elements
Large Game Elements: Game characters and other elements are large and distinguishable. Enemies and player characters are at least 1/6 of the height of the screen. Or there is a zoom feature to make them larger.
Visual Distractions
No Flashes: No flashing strobe effects or you can disable them. This includes the absence of flashing from dramatic visual effects, explosions or weather effects like lightning.
Narration for Visual Elements
This is the audible narration of in-game text. Sometimes talk about as Text To Speech, although it may include the narration of no-textual elements. This is different to Text To Voice, which provides player-player textual communication audibly.
Menu Narrated: All of the game menus can be narrated for easier navigation. The game menus can therefore be navigated without reading text.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual
If you want to play Need For Speed, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Visual accessibility:
- The Crew Motorfest (5 Visual Features)
Audio
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Need For Speed which deal with how you can adjust the audio of the game and whether audio cues compensate for aspects of the game that are hard to see.
Adjustable Audio
Balance Audio Levels: Set music and game sound effects separately. This enables you to select your preference as well as ensure critical game sounds aren't obscured by other audio.
Play Without Hearing
Play Without Hearing: No audio cues are necessary to play the game well.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Audio
If you want to play Need For Speed, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:
- The Crew 2 (3 Audio Features)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (3 Audio Features)
Communication
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Communication in Need For Speed which deal with how you can communicate with other players in the game and what options are available to customise and control this interaction.
Player-to-Player Online Communication
This is how players communicate with each other in online games. This can be to plan strategy, chat as they play or co-ordinate resources.
No Online Chat (Or Preset Phrases Only): Game is played online but no verbal or textual player communication. This includes games that offer no communication or communication with word-less icons, sounds or preset phrases.
Text Chat: Chat to other players by typing text.
Voice Chat: Chat to other players on your team or friends list by speaking with headset.
Online Communication Assistance
Text-to-speech: Convert text messages from other players to voiced messages. Game converts text typed by the player into synthesized audio that's read aloud to all other players in the voice channel. This feature allows players who can't speak verbally to have their thoughts expressed aloud to the rest of the players in their party.
Speech-to-text: Convert voice from other players to text messages. Transcribes incoming speech from other players into text onscreen in real time. Players who can't hear voice chat can read what other players have said aloud on their screen.
System Accessibility Settings
In addition to the accessibility features provided in the game, you can also use system-wide accessibility settings:
PC
Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators.
PlayStation 4
PlayStation 4 has a range of accessibility settings. Some are system only, some work in games (invert colours and button mapping).
Xbox One
Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games.
Read more about system accessibility settings.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors Jonah Monaghan and Ben Kendall