Criterion’s First-Person Shooter Black Joins EA Access Program

Microsoft made some waves last year with its backward compatibility program when it added several original Xbox games to the fray. Among them was EA's Black, a first-person shooter laden with weaponry – and showing off quite a bit of development skill from Criterion Games, the studio behind the Burnout series.

But in case you haven't discovered the game just yet – or you've been waiting for it to go on sale – the publisher has some good news. Black has joined the company's EA Access program, as part of its Vault service. That means you can play it to your heart's content, along with dozens of other games, as long as you're a subscriber to the service.

The game follows a black ops soldier by the name of Jack Kellar, who's being questioned as the game begins when something goes wrong during a military operation. The game is then told from his perspective as he takes on a number of missions overseas, picking up a number of weapons along the way and laying waste to a number of enemies.

Even though Black came out at a time of other popular first-person shooters – namely Microsoft's own Halo – it found a fun little following, and has since become a favorite in the backward compatibility program since its release last year. Now, it's bound to pick up even more fans – and it signifies that EA is adding original Xbox games to its Access program. Now, if we could just get a re-release of Criterion's own Burnout 3: Takedown to sweeten the pot. (There's word that Microsoft will add even more original Xbox games to the backward compatibility program this spring – so, fingers crossed.)

The EA Access program for Xbox One has become a pretty good way of rediscovering some of the company's better games, like the underappreciated Battlefield: Bad Company titles, as well as Dead Space 3. And it's pretty cheap to boot, as you can pay a few bucks at a time for a monthly subscription, or a flat fee of $29.99 for the whole year. It also gives you access to games before their release, including Star Wars: Battlefront II and FIFA 18. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already!