For years my friends and I used to point at GameFly and say “If only we could have something like Netflix for video games!” In theory GameFly is a neat service but having to wait for a week or two to receive a game and almost never being able to play the newest games even though you’ve had them at the top of your queue for months. It just wasn’t a good enough. Utomik seeks to change that though and be the on demand video game service you can rely on and with almost no wait times!
Utomik works by providing over five hundred games (with a list that continues to grow every month!) to users who pay a small subscription fee. Once you’re signed up or enjoying a free trial you’re able to play as many games as you want from their list of available games. Utomik starts by downloading a small portion of it to your computer and then you’re able to start playing while it finishes the download. In my experience I was able to play most games after just a few minutes of downloading. This will of course vary depending on game size and your Internet speed but it’s a great idea and it works pretty well.
The cost of entry is extremely low as well. There are two different plans at this time and they both provide a pretty good value. The first plan is for one person and it’s $5.99 USD a month and the other plan is for up to four people and only costs $9.99 USD a month! I played with it on a one month free trial from Utomik for the purpose of reviewing their service and can say with certainty that this will not only be a great service for me to gift to family but it will also be something myself and a few friends enjoy on the family plan. You just can’t beat unlimited access to over 500 games for four people for only ten bucks a month. It’s a deal that’s too good to pass up.
Now I will say that out of the five hundred plus games that only about 25-30 percent are of extremely high quality that will cause people to sign up on an impulse but they key thing to remember is that you’re still getting a great deal and that Utomik is continuing to add more new games every month. Just last month in they ended up adding Deep Silver as one of their newest partners, which added a lot of great games to the service. And of course as the subscriber base grows so will the list of available games as Utomik makes more money and is able to use that to pull in more publisher deals.
There are some extremely high quality games that are currently available that you could start playing right now and on a free trial no less. Some of my favorite games include Saints Row: The Third, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Dark Forces, Borderlands, Darksiders, Mini Metro, Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit, and Dead Island Riptide. There are plenty of other great games available to play too. I just wanted to list off a few of my favorites and remind people of the price to show how much a great deal this service already is.
The user interface works well enough but it can feel a bit clunky at times so I am looking forward to seeing that evolve and improve over time. The game library does have a higher quantity to quality ratio at the moment but Utomik has a big focus and goal ahead of them that includes improving the service by convincing more and more publishers to join and that’s already enough to convince me to remain a paying member. Utomik may not be perfect but we’re already off to a great start for what I’ve wished for since the early era of Netflix. Playstation Now may boast a much higher level of quality but Utomik doesn’t have any streaming, you’re downloading everything you play so across the few dozen highly rated games you’re going to have a much better experience. Utomik‘s off to a great start and I’m happy to be a part of their base of subscribers and encourage anyone reading to at least sign up for a free trial and see if it’s a good fit. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play some more Star Wars Dark Forces and Dead Island Riptide!
A one month free trial was provided by Utomik for the purposes of this review.
Utomik
Pros
- A few dozen games that are really great and worth playing or replaying
- Utomik continues to add more games each and every month
- A lot of potential for this relatively new service that gamers have been wanting for years
- No streaming! Games are download and play much better as a result
- Great price despite limited games and features at this time
Cons
- Much higher quantity to quality ratio at this time
- UI is a bit clunky at this time and will hopefully improve over time
