EA Access – A Brilliant Feature On Xbox One
EA Access is a brilliant feature on Xbox One, I realised this when I was flicking through my games catalogue on my Xbox recently and I noticed just how many games I own that are from EA. They take up a sizable chunk of my hard drive space. Now I play a lot of different games, I'm not afraid to try new things but money is always an issue when I go to buy new titles for myself and I like to know if they are worth it or not before I spend my hard earned cash on them. EA Access has had a double effect on my game purchases and decision making since I signed up to the service, free games and ten hour trials for brand new titles, now I can play before I pay and get some classic titles for a few Euro a month with EA Access and that's a huge positive in my eyes.
EA Access first came online back in August 2014, EA had initially offered the service to both Microsoft and Sony but Sony refused the offer as they were planning to bring their own gaming subscription service to PlayStation 4 called PlayStation Now. Microsoft snapped it up and it still remains an exclusive feature on consoles for the Redmond giant although we might see it land on the Nintendo Switch when it hits the shop shelves next year, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet in that regard.
Of course the first item of business is the free games that are on offer inside The Vault in EA Access. At the moment the list is approaching the 40 mark and EA has a huge range of different genres on offer, from FPS to racing games, puzzle games and more, I guarantee that you will find something that will tickle your fancy. At the minute you can pick up titles like Battlefield 4 and Hardline, you also have great sports games like FIFA, NBA and Rory Mcilroy PGA Tour as well as great puzzlers like Unravel and Peggle.
EA have also started to add old Xbox 360 games to it's Vault, now that the Xbox One is backwards compatible you can enjoy the entire Mass Effect trilogy all over again and the original Mirrors Edge too if you want. Now when EA launched the service they promised that once a title was put in The Vault it would stay there and so far they have being good to their word but in their terms and conditions for the service they have stated that they only have to give 30 days notice to remove a game, but so far the Vault has remained untouched. Long may that last.
On top of all the free games that are on offer, EA Access also has another ace up it's sleeve. 10 hour demos of some of their biggest soon to be released games. The demos themselves are pre release versions of the full games but you are restricted to only 10 hours of play, but all the progress that you have made and any achievements that you have acquired will be passed on if you decide to purchase the game upon it's release and if you do go ahead and buy the game, you will also get a 10% discount on your purchase too thanks to your subscription.
Now I know that I keep talking about free this and free that but of course EA Access is not a free service but at the same time it does offer incredible value for money when you consider what is on offer for your subscription. There are two options available to you if you fancy subscribing, you can pay for it by the month at a cost of €3.99 or you can pay for the year for €24.99. There is no restrictions on the amount of time you can play on full games, once you download a title, it's yours up until the point that you cancel your subscription.
I can't recommend EA Access enough, I might not always play the games in the Vault but I have never once thought about cancelling my subscription because you just never know what gem EA will throw in there next. A perfect example of this is Star Wars Battlefront, this is a game that I played for a few hours when it was available in the 10 hour demo form and I really enjoyed it but never picked it up, it comes to the Vault on the 13th of December, I can't wait. Let me know what EA games you would like to see added to the Vault in the coming months in the comments below.
Image from ea.com