Seven months almost to the day, EA took the bold step of releasing the EA Access service on Xbox One, offering discounts on EA digital purchases, early access trials of soon-to-be-released titles, and full games for you to download. The surprise announcement, coupled with the slightly cobbled-together nature of the service led many to quickly write it off as a cash grab. However, when the price of the service was announced as £3.99 a month or an eye-opening £20 a year, with the promise of more games being regularly added to the Vault, people began to sit up and take notice. As the service just happened to launch on the day before my birthday, I took the plunge and now, seven months down the line, it’s time for my mid-term report. Is it a viable service? Could other publishers follow suit? Or has the whole thing been a waste of time? To judge that, let’s look at the three main pillars of the service: The Discounts The discounts are what they are. If you’re a big player of the Ultimate Team modes on their sports titles, then 10% off of those FIFA, Madden or NBA Points will probably represent a nice, tidy saving over the 10-11 months you’ll play that year’s release. Likewise, DLC tends to be less likely to receive discounts in Xbox sales, in which case 10% off Battlefield Premium also represents a nice chunk of change back in your pocket. Where the discounts fall down is in relation to full games. Granted, if you have the patience, then there’s a chance that those games will be added to the Vault (more on that later) in due course. However, if you need that game now, and you have to have it digitally, then you run into the main problem – namely the frankly ridiculous prices that Microsoft (yes, yes, Sony generally charge the same price, but they don’t have the EA Access service, so calm down) charges for digital releases. 10% is 10%, but that 10% is still 10% of the £50-60 that brand-new EA releases go for on the Xbox Games Store. It’s a nice discount, but it’s still leaving you looking at £45-54 for the “convenience” of always having it on the console, compared to the £30-40 for which you can pick up physical copies of these games in retail stores. So, the discounts resemble something of a mixed bag. The Trials In some ways, this represents the best feature of the EA Access service. In a time when games publishers look for ways to essentially monetise demos, EA have at least looked to provide subscribers with some value by essentially ditching the concept of a demo altogether and replacing it with six hours of pre-release access in which to play as much of the full game as you can conceivably fit into that time. Not only that but, should you then choose to buy the game, your save file from that trial is carried over, allowing you to seamlessly continue your progress. It’s still, in some respects, a paid demo, but it’s a hell of a lot better than a lot of early access products. The Vault In other ways, the Vault is undoubtedly the crown jewel of EA Access. There’s no doubt that it provides a similar service to Microsoft’s own Games With Gold, but the Vault comes with the advantage of you not having to worry about missing out on games because of a relatively small window of time for downloading. All games (currently up to a total of 9, as of March 10th 2015) remain available for download at all times, and remain yours to keep and play for the duration of your subscription. Whilst you can argue about the quality and genre spread of the games available (five sports titles amongst those 9 available titles), the fact remains that the majority of those games will cost you around £50 to buy digitally through the Xbox Games Store. For £20 a year, you’re essentially getting access to around £420 worth of games with more likely to be added. As long as you have an interest in the games being made available, that represents phenomenal value. As for the games themselves… Battlefield 4 So, you know how it seems like no-one really gives a s**t about Battlefield Hardline, right? Yeah, you can blame that one on Battlefield 4. EA – already a company with a pretty lousy reputation – really dropped the ball with the publication of a game broken to such an extent that it almost killed the franchise. By the time it was included in EA Access’ launch window, it was generally playable and, actually, still a pretty decent Battlefield game. The campaign is completely forgettable, as are all Battlefield campaigns since Bad Company 2, but Battlefield multiplayer continues to be a thing of beauty with excellent maps and multiple ways to play. When it works. EA Sports UFC Whilst UFC is a decent first next-gen stab at mixed martial arts, there’s no doubt that it’s a disappointment in terms of content, especially when compared to the likes of last-gen efforts, UFC Undisputed and EA’s own MMA. Where it has excelled though is in free DLC, with a large number of additional fighters being added over the months since its release. Online fights tend to disappoint, as everyone flocks to the same three or four fighters, but the game is a decent platform on which to build the inevitable UFC 2. FIFA 14 As the FIFA franchise continues to strive for increased realism, I can’t help but miss its more arcade-like iterations. Therefore, in a lot of ways, I find myself preferring FIFA 14 to FIFA 15. Games seems a little more open, goals are that little more spectacular, and everything seems that little bit quicker. And, with a still-thriving online community, you’re always guaranteed to find a game. For the cheap-as-chips price you’re essentially paying for it, it’s an excellent title for meeting your footballing needs. Madden NFL 25/Madden NFL 15 Whereas FIFA came into this generation from a position of strength, the Madden franchise has suffered in recent years, culminating in the utterly average 25th anniversary edition last year. So, it is with some surprise that I can confirm that Madden NFL 15 puts the franchise firmly back on track. Using EA’s new sporting graphics engine, Ignite, Madden 15 looks better than ever and, more importantly, plays better than it has in a number of years. NBA Live 15 NBA Live 14 was a debacle. NBA Live 15 won’t exactly have 2K Sports quaking in their boots, but it’s a hell of a step in the right direction. With all of the relevant modes now in place, and a game that at least plays something like basketball, Live 15 – like UFC – provides a decent platform on which to build next year’s iteration. Whilst NBA 2K continues to be the leader on the court, by following the successful templates of FIFA and Madden, NBA provides a pretty decent overall package. And Ultimate Team continues to s**t all over My Team. Need for Speed: Rivals With absolutely no sign of the Burnout franchise making a comeback, Need for Speed continues to rule the roost, when it comes to vehicular mayhem. Whilst Rivals doesn’t meet the heights of Hot Pursuit or the second Most Wanted, it takes many of the good traits from both to make a pretty competent drive-em-up. The game’s only real disappointment is the low number of players who can concurrently join one online map. As cloud gaming and persistent worlds continue to be talked up, Rivals serves as a reminder that it may not quite be there yet. Peggle 2 Did you love Peggle? Then you’ll love Peggle 2. Did you hate Peggle? Then you’ll hate Peggle 2. There’s not really much to say here. There are some additional characters, who bring with them some new special powers. But it’s more Peggle. Nothing here is going to change your mind. Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare Far, far better than it has any right to be, Garden Warfare takes its cues from the likes of Iron Brigade to deliver a fun-as-all-hell third-person tower defence shooter. No, seriously. The hidden gem of the Vault, and perhaps the biggest surprise of 2014. So, back to the original questions. Is it a viable service? I believe so. As this generation ramps up, it’s difficult to imagine EA’s output somehow reducing, meaning it should be fed with a constant supply of new titles to try and/or buy. As long as it remains competitively priced, there’s no reason that this service couldn’t run for the full length of this generation. Could other publishers follow suit? The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, as the saying goes, and we’ll need to wait and see EA’s financials, but anecdotally it seems to be a reasonably popular service, and it would certainly make sense for the larger, more prolific developers like Ubisoft to at least consider it. Has the whole thing been a waste of time? There will be people out there who cancelled after one month, and that’s their choice. However, I’ve been seriously impressed with it so far. Long may it continue…although if you wanted to add Dragon Age: Inquisition to the Vault, that’d be swell…
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