Unless somehow it has gotten better in the past 6 months.. It SUCKS!!! Takes almost a week to get another game.. Same as netflix speed? I've been a netflix user for the past 5 years and never in that time has it taken a week to get a movie to me. I could receive the game on Monday and return it that same day (Don't ask why I would return the game on that same day)... And not receive another game till maybe Saturday or the next Monday. How is that fast? And there distribution center is in Austin? (That is close so why the damn wait?) I've e-mailed Netflix to offer games and am waiting on the day they do.. I really wished Gamefly would be as fast or somewhat fast but I've had problems with them. It's better to get that diamond/platinum pass from Hollywood video and rent unlimited games..
Not sure why you NEED a 2 day turnaround. With movies it's different--you watch it once and you're done.. so you only get max of 3 hours of enjoyment out of a DVD. With these games...you keep one for 1, 2...8 weeks at a time. Then you return it and if you don't get one RIGHT away, the service is crappy and worthless? Not to me...I got many hours of enjoyment. I can wait a week if I need to.
I don't recall, but most well designed games these days give you on-screen feedback on what buttons do what. At the very least there's an Options -> ControllerConfig If you purchase the game through Gamefly, I believe they send you everything you would get as if you purchased it from the store.
I had it for a while and was very satisfied. I dropped it because I didn't have time to play at all. It was great when I had even a little time because I could play at my own leisure and not worry about when I sent the game back. I usually had a 4-5 day turn around so it was never a problem when I had 2 games out. One goes back the other gets played. The instructions do not come with a rented game. You can however get a basic instruction list from their website. Controls and a general what to do is about it. Sometimes it was fine, sometimes I had to use places like GameFaqs or others to find out how to play. When you buy a game, which I did a few times, You just go online to your account and select to "Keep It". They charge your cc for the price (usually less than full price) and also allow you to apply any reward benefits to it. You get a certain percentage off the price and every 3 months or so you get game cash for like $5-$10 credit off the game. When you do this they send out the compete instructions, manual, inserts, and box for the game. You get everything you would had you walked into a store and bought it, except the cellophane packaging on the outside. I used it for a lot of DS stuff for my son, and we actually tried out several Guitar Hero/ Rock Band games since we already had the instruments. As others have said there were times new releases were hard to find when they first came out, but they also list them several months in advance. I would look at the coming soon section and add things all teh time even though they may be 3 months out. I also moved them to the top of my Que and left them there. It wasn't a problem because they just ship the first available game and then when a new release came out I was generally near the top of the list for them. I also got pretty good at timing when to send one back. I would usually send one back a couple of days before a new release dropped so the old one would come off th eque when the new one came out. If I was in the middle of playing something at the time my second game usually went back before I played it and then I just re-qued it for later. I generally got new releases pretty quickly that way.
If you get it, you absolutely have to get the 2 game package. The week turn around is brutal. And if you want anything even relatively recent, you have to make sure the only games on your Q are the recent ones. If you have 1 older game on there, even if it's dead last at 50, you will always get it. I found it frustrating. I can get over the long wait times for games, but the games they chose to ship out pissed me off. I'd have 5 games on my list as "available now" for example, 10 as "high" even more as "medium" and they'd ship me something from the bottom of my list. And the situation could be remedied by only listing the games you want, but like netflix, I like building a big Q. All in all, not bad for the price. I wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't advise against it either.
It's pretty good. I don't buy many games because I get tired of them quickly. The only part that sucks, as others have alluded to, is that getting a brand new game is tricky. You have to time your returns just right and then keep your fingers crossed. But like Sam, I'm way behind anyway, so it doesn't really matter for me. The "keep it," feature is nice. They send you the original packaging and manual (no shipping charge) if you decide to keep a game. They also have frequent $5 off coupons that have no exceptions.
I haven't tried it, but one of the two Best Buys in my area has this kiosk just inside the entrance that is similar to a RedBox, but it allows you to buy, sell, and rent used games. Game rentals are $1 a night. They had a pretty limited selection, and I do worry about if the games will work properly.
It has gotten a little better, but it still takes about 3-4 days until you get another game in the mail. To answer DD, no, it does not include a game manual. The games just come in an envelope and sleeve, but you can always see the button configuration in the games' menus. I've never had a problem with it.
What about downloadable content like "The Lost and the damned" or "The Ballad of Gay Tony" or extra maps and missions etc? Can you get those through GameFly? Is there a place for a community of Game Fly people too? DD
