EA Access Review - Games for $2.50 a Month, Hard or Soft?
EA Access is another game subscription service available one the Xbox One. It includes lots of games from EA's extensive library of games. You can get this for $4.99, or better still, $29.99 for one year, working out to $2.50 a month. That is a really low cost for a game subscription, especially considering EA's other...not so popular business practices. Is it worth it? Let's find out.
The reason I'm bringing light to this service now, is that it allows you to download a 10 hour trial of Star Wars Battlefront 2. If you are spent dry from buying that Xbox One X, $4.99 will give you a great way to test out your new powerhouse. The game isn't streamed, so it will run just as well as the retail release. This applies to all games on the service. I will get into Star Wars Battlefront 2 at a later date. The game is beautiful on the Xbox One X though. See? I can say something good about it, it's a lot more than most people right now. EA Access lets you download several Xbox One and Xbox 360 games to play as you see fit. They add new games every few months, and also give trials of the newest versions of their sports line, such as Madden 18, and Need for Speed Payback(also will try that later).
You may be thinking: this is like Xbox Game Pass, but limited to EA games. You are correct! It is exactly the same thing. EA Access came out first, so you could argue Microsoft got the idea from EA. However, in EA's many years as...a "smart" buyer of other studios like Bioware, it amassed quite a catalog. Along with newer games like Unravel and Mass Effect Andromeda, you also have notable, and I consider must play titles such as:
Dragon Age Origins
Mass Effect(all three are included, first one is as must)
Titanfall 2
Dead Space 1 and 2(all three are here)
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2
There are also some other games that I may try like UFC 2, Star Wars Battlefront, and Mirror's Edge Catalyst. The catalog currently includes over 50 games. With the RPG pedigree here, along with all the different versions of Battlefield, I'd say that EA Access does a better job of hitting all genres than Xbox Game Pass does. You also get a 10% discount on any DLC for the games you download, as none of them include anything other than the base game(can't expect more from EA).
With all this being said, just like with ANY subscription service, you should look at the catalog and find out if there is anything there you want to play before you commit. Right now, with the available trials for Battlefront 2, Need for Speed Payback, and The Sims 4, I think it is a great time to jump in. EA Access is a tremendous value when purchased on a yearly basis, or for a single month every six months. It is yet another reason why the Xbox One is the best value for a gamer on a budget. That's the benefit of being on the "losing" side. They try harder.
If you buy EA Access as a yearly service, or one month at a time every six months, it gets a:
HARD Recommendation!
Soft Recommendation
Soft Pass
Hard Pass
Get boning!
