It comes a time where you do not want to spend over $60 on the latest games only to know that the game will only last for about 6 - 8 hours and have a low replay value (unless your goal is to achieve everything). This scenario comes very often to me, and after reading around and a lot of decision making - I decided to give Gamefly a try. Gamefly is an online subscription service that mails you up to 2 games of your choice per month for rent. The company offers various major console and even PC service, and as a member if you ended up enjoying the game you and keep it for a discounted price. For 1 game per month with a subscription fee of $14.99, you may be able to get the bang for your buck if you play at least 1 new game per month. Well see how my experience if with the service and see if this service may be the right one for you.
First Impression:
Gamefly offers games from major console that is still in circulation right now, for my focused I use the service for PS4, PS3 and Nintendo DS/3DS. My initial skepticism was whether the company would have new games for us to rent or not, and surprisingly they have and extensive library for all the console as I managed to rent new PS4 games (as I though the demand would be high as a new console). Gamefly uses a feature called GameQ which lets you create a "wishlist" of games you wanted to play and they will send you the next available game based of your priority (to ensure that you will always have something to play). The website itself is pretty easy to navigate and I have had no problems with finding the games I wanted to play. Gamefly also features a "Digital" version which lets you purchase games for your PC, unlike the console you will have to purchase the full game if you wanted to play them (but with additional discount as a member) and there are some indy games that you can play for free for being a member,
Ive been committed to Steam for too long to take interest in another cloud based game library for my computer.
Test Drive:
One of the biggest concern for people is because of it being a mail service, many are afraid there will be delay in processing time and what not that would create a down time in their gaming hours. Gamefly has multiple fulfillment center in large cities to serve us, because I lived in Seattle (and the have a center there) I can received my game in by the next day after email confirmation (same goes with sending the game back). Sometimes you will get games that is delivered from across the country, but Gamefly guarantee a 2 to 4 business day shipping. The games comes in a nice packaging (with a hard cover to protect the disc) and you simply re-use the packaging, drop it in the mailbox and wait until you get the confirmation email (postage is already pre-paid). If everything goes well, you will receive a notification of your next game being shipped by the following day.
So far the games I tested has had 0 problems and it felt like new. I do sometimes get disappointed when the game I wanted to play is not located in the fulfillment center in Seattle as I have to wait for a little bit more. That being said, your experience with renting the games will really depends on the location of your residence; I recommend checking if there is a center near you area before trying it out as the further it is the longer you will have to wait. Based on my experience, I usually have 3 days in total when I exchange games (2 to wait for a new game and 1 on returning). Since I only play on the weekends, these timeline fits well to me as I pretty much get to play a new game once every 2 weeks.
Conclusion:
With about $15/month, if you can kick out a single player game a month - this is already a good deal for you; I wouldnt recommend it if you are a more online multiplayer person this might be a bad idea because you might as well buy the full game. Also keep in mind where you live, the closer you are with the fulfillment center the better the deal become. Sometimes you get games that is pretty far from your location, and sadly you cant cancel it once they already shipped it (as you know where they are shipping in the confirmation email). So far I have not had a problem with the service and has been getting the games that I wanted. Gamefly also offer another service for $22/month that allows you to keep 2 games (which reduces your down time) - but for my gaming lifestyle, 1 is enough.
Curious but not sure? Click on the link and try it out (1st month Free!)
