My latest purchase is the Collector's Edition of Mafia II. This retails at £60, which is pretty steep (more than I would be prepared to pay, certainly) but I picked it up, new, for only £14.99 from an Amazon Marketplace seller.
The contents are contained within a plastic outer sleeve, containing a 'steel box' style game box, a map and a hardback book (of the same dimensions as the game box).
Fuhgeddaboutit!
The matt-effect steel box is covered, front and back, with artwork from the game and is embossed on both sides with 'Mafia II'. Contained within is the game disk and a CD containing the orchestral score from the game (the latter disk is mocked up to look like a vinyl LP, which is a nice touch). There's a leaflet giving the track listing of the score and also a code for the 'Made Man' DLC pack for the game. This contains two exclusive cars and two suits for Vito, the main character, to use in-game.
The hardback book is made to look like an old-fashioned photo album and all the material inside is printed to look as if it were stuck in to it. The contents relate to concept artwork from the game - the characters, the vehicles, the settings, advertisements and weapons. Each section is prefaced by a introduction in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
The final item in the set is a map of the game area, described as 'tear resistant' on the outer sleeve of the package (though I've not put that to the test, with either meaning of 'tear'). The back of the map is covered with 40s style advertisements, in keeping with the game's setting.
In game, the map can be accessed via the Back button
This is a decent package but I don't think it is worth the £60 asking (but certainly worth the £15 I paid for it).
The package in full
I like the idea of collector's edition - the stuff in this edition looks terrific for a fan. But what I never know is which games I'm going to love enough to make the collector's editions worthwhile. I can't think of anything worse than having a fat glossy box of a game I just don't like too much on my shelf.
ReplyDeleteI only get the Collector's editions of games that I know I'm going to like (Fable 2 and 3) or where I've played a demo and quite fancied it (Mafia II). I agree - having a boxful of ephemera for a game that you ended up not liking, goading you from your shelves, is not an attractive prospect.
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