Over the past few years special editions have become more and more commonplace in the video game industry. The bigger, blockbuster titles now offer something a bit more unique for the dedicated fan. Of course, nothing comes for free and these special editions can sometimes leave quite a hole in the bank account and they're not always worth it.
In the months leading up to the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum I was keenly anticipating the special edition of the game. All I really knew was that it came with a batarang. A few days after release, I pulled the money together and planned to try and find a copy. I mentioned this in passing to a friend who quickly warned me against it. A colleague of his had purchased the special edition and while the game was incredible, the batarang that I had set my heart on was less incredible. In fact, it turned out to be nothing more than a lump of plastic in the shape of a batarang. No thought put into it whatsoever.
So, I decided I wouldn't fork out the extra cash for it and just bought the standard copy of the game.
It goes without saying that when the special edition for Batman: Arkham City was announced I was a little more cautious. Or so I thought! I pre-ordered the Robin Edition from Game which came with Robin downloadable content and had a different cover. However, my good friend Matthew Stogdon pointed out that the Robin DLC would be available for everyone a few weeks after the game was released. He suggested that I, like him, buy the collector's edition instead which was only available online. So I did. And this is what I got.
After a horrible wait for the delivery man I opened the parcel and it looked like this. All very neat. Note the fantastic art-work on side featuring the Joker. Then you take the plastic off...
...and it unfolds rather neatly. But then...
You find all this! Included is a Batman statue. (With sharp, pointy bits.) A book with concept art and poster art inside as well as the game disc. There's the soundtrack. The Gotham Knight DVD. The Iceberg Lounge challenge map DLC, the Catwoman DLC which includes The Long Halloween and Animated Series skins and finally The Dark Knight Returns skin.
Quite a lot for only £15 more than the standard version of the game don't you think?
I have two problems with it though.
1) The soundtrack. It's not a disc, it's a download. I'd rather have a disc because it's physical and something I can actually have. Everyone knows you can download pretty much anything for free anyway whereas a disc would have been more unique.
2) It's not the most practical special edition. The sides don't stay up by themselves. I'm surprised they don't have magnets in them or something. This is such a shame because the art-work on the sides is beautiful.
I'm not sure how I'm going to store this one. It's made more difficult by the fact that the disc is inside the book!
Clever, but bloody irritating. It would be so much easier if it was inside a standard game box because then the game itself would fit on the shelf fine and I could put the special edition itself somewhere else. I'll have a play around and when I put my review up I'll include a photo of my storage solution. Exciting times hey?
Overall, it's a huge step up from the craptacular batarang. You get so much for your money and I really like it. I just wish they had made it a bit easier to store.
But I haven't just been sitting here for the past 24 hours looking at the pretty edition. I've been playing the game and it's amazing! I'll be putting a review up soon. Don't go far.
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