BioShock 2. Review of the Russian collector's edition, a piece of the Special Edition, and my fan memorabilia.

Beware, there are a lot of pictures!

Greetings to everyone in the extended review of the collector's edition of BioShock 2, the Russian release of which took place the day before yesterday. Yes, you might say that a review of this edition has already been done by 1C\_Games, so why another one? First of all, this review features not only the Russian collector's edition but also a lot of other branded goodies from BioShock 2 that I've collected at home, including a Western art book(!).

Secondly, reviews from publishers are a very delicate matter. From the reader's perspective, such reviews are fantastic because the publisher receives the game long before regular gamers can get their hands on it. The box description, supplemented with “live” photos, helps determine whether or not to buy this or that collector's edition before the release. After all, we can't trust staged photographs, as the ear from **Left 4 Dead 2** made us believe – everything must be checked...

However, it's quite obvious why negative aspects can't be found in such reviews. If the art book has fallen pages, if the keychain has broken wheels, or if a key for collector's content can only be activated on the night of Ivan Kupala – such things will go tactfully unmentioned in the review. So don't hesitate to make a review of a collector's edition if a similar one already exists from the publisher. Your review will also be in demand and, moreover, necessary for a complete picture. So, if you have the Alpha Protocol or Settlers 7 box – be sure to share it. But I also urge community managers to continue to engage in this socially useful endeavor. Now, back to the topic of BioShock.

The first part was released in Russia only in a jewel case. This was quite disappointing because a game of this caliber should be issued at least in a DVD box. But it so happened that only BioShock 2 received a collector's edition. And the first thing that greets us in this edition is the cover with 3D water droplets. Not as three-dimensional as in **Heavy Rain**, but this is not needed here – we have not a downpour, just a fogged porthole. Besides the droplets, the box also features many embossed inscriptions and images, and the relief perfectly matches the printing. This is important because in a significant number of editions, achieving such a result did not work out. I've tried to make the relief as visible as possible in the photos:

This is the second edition in a cardboard box of this format from **1C**, the first was Alpha Protocol. But since I haven’t gotten around to Obsidian yet, I saw the design of this box for the first time with BioShock 2. Here’s how it's packed:

Inside, as everyone probably knows, there are a keychain, an art book, and a game DVD box. In order. “Keychain with color engraving of the game's logo.”

A stylish item. There are dents and unevenness on the edges, but they won't be able to scratch or catch on anything because it's not a defect but a stylization. However, I won’t risk carrying keys on it – the inner part of the keychain consists of an image covered with plastic, and from constant wear, it may peel off or get scratched, especially considering that the keychain from **Truckers 3** has already lost two of its four wheels while I've been carrying it. The problem is not with the keychain but with me, so don’t worry; the quality of BioShock 2 is in order – the quality is confirmed by a bunch of copyrights engraved on the back:

We’ve looked at the keychain, now onto “the artistic album Deco Devolution.” Unlike many editions where an art book just refers to a simple printed booklet like a manual, this album truly deserves that title: high-quality pages, special book binding, and complete localization in Russian:

In content, it complements the manual – descriptions of characters, locations, and the world of BioShock in general. At the same time, the art book includes a list of the game's creators, which is usually found in the manual. But I must state that we only got a portion of the Western version. And I'm not talking about the 160-page monster in a hardcover that was included in the Special Edition – I’ll talk about that separately. In the West, there’s also the Rapture Edition:

There, it's specially resized to fit the DVD box, art book of 96 pages. And in our edition, it's only 36. The difference is certainly huge. On the one hand, if we were to include a thicker art book in our edition, we would have to remove the keychain from the set. I believe this sacrifice is justified – a keychain is still better than a few dozen more pages of the art book.

Localization, as you can see, is excellent: fonts, style – everything is in place. Now let’s dive inside the main DVD box. The art on it, by the way, differs slightly from the art on the box:

The box itself is white, inside it is the game disc, the manual, and a leaflet with another contest from NVIDIA. The last attribute has already become standard for all significant releases from 1C-SoftClub. Nice, we’ll participate. The manual is in color, 44 pages, and contains only technical information – all of the artistic descriptive parts, as I mentioned before, went to the art book. This is the right decision; there the pictures are of better quality, and there won’t be any unnecessary spoilers in the manual. But this certainly does not mean that the guide is dull and uninteresting – there are many useful illustrations, and it will surely be useful throughout the game.

Also, on the last page of the manual is the main hope and main fear of Russian gamers: Mafia II. Hope because the first Mafia is unparalleled; fears because what if we have to wait three months for localization again? By the way, it's strange that PS3 is not mentioned among the platforms. SoftClub will, of course, publish the version for PS3, but it looks odd. Is it Microsoft's policy again?..

A photograph of the contents together:

Under the disc is a monstrous number of keys. Three of them. One for Live, one for tech support, and one for the contest from NVIDIA. You can't mix them up, but the pile of symbols can be intimidating at first. Be prepared.

This is what the collector's edition turned out to be like. The only thing it really lacks is a soundtrack disc. The game takes up 1 DVD, and it's not difficult to place two discs on one spindle in such boxes – it was done in **Aliens vs. Predator** or for instance **Alpha Protocol**. And the music in BioShock 2 truly deserves a separate CD. It's a pity, but this circumstance prevents BioShock 2 from being placed in the same ranks as the best collector's editions in its price range (see for example **Turgor**). Still, this edition could have been better.

Not too rich, but quality! Thus, the collector's edition of BioShock 2 is definitely worth its 899 rubles!

And now, where I usually finish my reviews – I begin the most interesting part. It so happened that I've accumulated a decent amount of materials on the second part that deserve a detailed narrative. I’ll tell in order of increasing size.

The smallest item in my collection – the figurine of the Little Sister. It was given to the first buyers of the collector's edition in several stores in Moscow; I bought mine at 1C-Interest. Here’s how the packaging looks (the crease on it is only due to my carelessness):

And the Little Sister herself. Many movable elements and excellent detail. It’s worth noting that the girl is very stable, despite her tiny legs:

The figurine is made to be the right size to match the Big Daddy from the collector's edition of the first part, which I unfortunately don't have. However, the Sister pairs excellently with another figurine from my collection:

If anyone doesn't recognize her, this is Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII. Such a union of East and West, fantasy and utopia now adorns my shelf. They look great together, don't you agree?

The next and main element of my collection – the art book from the Special Edition. The same one, the 160-page hardcover. In comparison with the art book from the Russian edition, it looks like this:

The full-fledged Deco Devolution rivals, I wouldn't hesitate to say, the art books of **World of Warcraft**. It can also be leafed through endlessly and constantly find something new. You can delve into monsters and mechanics, admire landscapes and portraits, and attempt to understand the artist's thought process through the comments... You get the idea, this atmosphere cannot be conveyed through photos. But I can’t help but show you a few spreads:

I advise you after viewing these pictures to not think “1C cheated us”, but rather “2K did their best”. Accept it; our industry has not yet matured to such editions. And we can only change that by buying up the runs of collector’s editions like BioShock 2. So that the publisher believes that we are ready to pay money for real, big collector's editions.

The art book is magnificent, but I have something else from the Special Edition set. Not everyone will appreciate this, but this item is hugely valuable – a vinyl record with the soundtrack to BioShock 2. Nothing more to add, just look at the photos:

I have a record player in the garage, and if I can get it working – it will provide an incentive to go to the garage more often.

And the last and biggest part, taken from the bunker of NVIDIA, will serve as the background for the general photograph of my collection. The collection of a BioShock fan:

And in this picture is the beauty of the universe of BioShock. Strange combinations of the large and the small, modern shine and years of ruin, streams of water and shining metal. And here is the porthole, the infamous