What Are Our Reviews?
Can I Play That? (CIPT) review video games and technology for how accessible the product is for disabled users. This can range from a number of topics being discussed and usually varies from product to product with the end goal being to inform disabled people about what may or may not be contained as part of that product and how well these have been implemented.
After all, it’s all well and good having a video game that states that it has subtitles, but if those subtitles are not legible, that’s something a player needs to know. The same goes for knowing what features technology may have that could be useful, such as co-pilot, screen reader support, and more. We focus on reviewing everything from features found in the settings menus, to how accessible the design is.
At CIPT, our reviews don’t focus on the usual game review topics such as how many trees you can see in the distance, or how well-rendered a character’s skin looks, instead we delve into the functional aspect of games, which can mean our reviews get a bit on the chunky side. You’ll likely find our reviews averaging between 1,000 – 3,000 words, but we do include headers for quicker navigation, as well as a summary and score section.
Our Scoring System
Our scoring process works on a 10-point system with increments of 0.5 meaning that we can score a product a 5/10 or an 8.5/10, for example.
It’s important to note that our reviews are the subjective perspective of the reviewer and also that the score is not run through any particular calculations. Instead, we ensure we’re talking about key points related to each criteria we cover. While our reviewers may utilize research on accessibility best practices and lived experience, they also use our internal guide to ensure they’re covering the majority of topics, but we may not always touch on everything.
In addition, experience with accessibility features and design varies for every disabled person. Our reviews do not speak for everyone.
Of course, as accessibility technology improves, we will update our internal guidelines where we can so that we ensure we’re discussing how well such technologies work in practice where possible. An example: Our internal review guidelines have a section on looking at the haptics of controllers, but the PS5 DualSense controller has adaptive triggers that are unique only to PS5 titles.
The Scores
Our scores, as already stated, work on a 0.5 incremental scale ranging from 0 up to 10.
What a 10 Score Means
It’s crucial to understand that a 10/10 does not mean that we are stating that a product is fully accessible to everyone, instead this means that the reviewer believes that the product includes enough accessibility wins for it to be highly recommended. It does not mean that the product is flawless. For example, should we award a video game a 10/10 for a majority of reasons, it may still fail in areas such as providing screen reader support.
What a 0 Score Means
We’re unlikely going to give a product a 0, and we’re unlikely to ever review a game that would fall into this bracket. However, should we ever do so, it’d be more or less a game that is incredibly inaccessible to the point that it’s a surprise it even runs
Our Review Types
We’ll update this page once we’ve finalized the route we’re taking on this front. To give some indication, currently, CIPT publishes Accessibility Reviews that blend a mixture of professional experience and lived experiences to provide a detailed review that looks into various criteria, for example, our Far Cry 6 Accessibility Review. We’ve been running these types of reviews since roughly around the end of 2020.
Prior to that, we published reviews that were focused specifically on criteria, such as our Immortals Fenyx Rising — Can I Play That? Mobility Review. Right now, the future finds us keeping Accessibility Reviews in place, while our criteria-specific reviews remain dormant right now.
