An advertisement caught my eye yesterday and I knew immediately that I’d seen something like it before, but where? It hit me like a ton of bricks, and it was really quite funny as to the extent of the ‘inspiration’. I’ve put them side by side so you can take a look for yourself.

I guess we weren’t supposed to notice, eh?

Collector’s editions just seem to be more about ticking boxes than bringing gamers exclusive, worthwhile content. I’m going to take a look at what every one seems to have, and discuss the significance, if any, of the bundled item, starting with…

Special Packaging? Check.

No special edition of a game is complete without some form of unique packaging. Whether it’s a steel tin, cardboard box, wooden box, or a simple slip case, this is the feature that immediately differentiates these editions from the average Joe game cases. Personally, I think that a special edition does need special packaging, if it’s done correctly. I don’t want to be paying an extra £10 just for a flimsy cardboard box that cost about 2p to make. Give me something substantial, something that I can cherish without it ripping or falling to pieces a couple of months down the line.

Art Book? Check.

The staple of the collector’s edition, this is something that developers and publishers can rely on time and time again when creating the bundles. Of varying quality and style, from informative books like that in the Bioshock 2 Rapture Edition, to the leather-bound ACII art book,  to the waste of paper that was shoved in with the Modern Warfare 2 Hardened Edition, it seems that people think gamers would rather be looking at pictures of a game which they could, at that very moment, be experiencing it first hand. So, why include it, then? It’s a tricky one to answer, although I suppose the main reason is cost. Many gamers love artwork, and art books are cheap-ish items to produce. I admit they’re quite collectible, and actually very nice when some effort has been put into them – just don’t expect me to get excited about a couple of screenshots printed on thin paper in a book held together with PVA glue.

Soundtrack CD? Check.

Another common fallback for the collector’s edition, this time it’s the music from the game instead of the art from the game that we have in our possession. Mostly included as an actual CD, some cheap-ass companies decide that our extra money didn’t cover the cost of a CD, so instead include a piece of paper with a download code on it. It’s not that I hate soundtrack downloads, it’s just that you can’t stick a download code into your hi-fi or CD player, so it’s not as versatile, essentially forcing you to listen to some MP3s on your console. Others think outside the box, such as the full collector’s edition of Bioshock 2 which shipped with a 12″ vinyl LP as well as the CD, to fit in with the game style. That’s how you do a soundtrack, people.

Art Cards or Poster? Check.

So the edition already contains an artbook, but you know what we need? That’s right, more pictures. This bonus artwork comes in many different variants, from postcard-sized images to full size posters. The quality of some, as with other special edition contents, is good in some cases and appalling in others. In extremely bad editions, they’re nothing more than pieces of paper with a picture on them; hardly the collectible art cards we were promised on the box. The usefulness of these are essentially reduced to nothing; you can’t read or listen to them, just observe them, so they could easily be omitted from the edition and no one would notice. Except that one guy on the internet who complains about everything. He would notice.

Figurine? Check.

Not the most common item you’re likely to find in any given collector’s edition, but the popularity has definitely risen over the past few years. Reserved for the more pricey versions, the figure contained inside is typically a major character in the game: a Big Daddy from Bioshock, Altair and Ezio from Assassin’s Creed, or even a Facehugger from Aliens Vs Predator. A worthwhile addition in most cases, this is something that people might actually want to buy. They don’t have any direct use apart from looking good on your shelf, but I love high quality models. I just wished that there was effort in there to make them look like the people they’re supposed to. I’m not quite sure who they modelled the Ezio figurine on, perhaps they ran out of time and nabbed someone off the street?

Additional Tat? Check.

The additional tat in a collector’s edition comes in various shapes and sizes and many different mediums. Did you want some stickers or a keyring? Didn’t think so, but somehow you’ve wound up with them. Not the most collectible items in the World, they seem to exist just to fill out the “Special Edition contains” bullet-point lists. You can’t read them, stick them on your wall or play with them, so the additional tat is generally useless. If we must have additional tat in there, please give people something they can use, like a USB stick (nice one, Forza 3).

So there we have it, a low-down of all the additional stuff that you might find in your Special Limited Collector’s Edition version of the game. You did make sure the actual game was in there as well, didn’t you?

Back in the olden days of gaming, nearly every game you came across had a health bar; otherwise you probably just died after being hit a set number of times. You had to dodge enemy attacks as much as possible to conserve your health throughout the levels, and collect items scattered around to replenish it. Nowadays, though, this concept is rarely seen, replaced by regenerative health systems.

I’m not quite sure exactly which game did it first, but if everyone was asked to remember the first game which prominently featured a regenerative health type system, it would probably be Halo: Combat Evolved. In Halo, you had a health bar and a shield, with enemy fire depleting the shield first. Once the shield was down, any further hits you took lowered your health bar – however, if you could avoid being damaged for a short while your shield would fully recharge, protecting your health once again. I wouldn’t peg regenerative health completely down to Halo, however; whilst it was hugely successful and extremely influential in the shooters genre, it wasn’t a new concept.

So, then, from 2001 onwards, nearly every shooter (and even games in other genres) has featured a variant on the regenerative health system. If you were to scan over your game collection, concentrating on those released in the past few years, you’d find a high percentage of them have it in place. Most gamers probably think of Call of Duty when it’s mentioned, where the edges of the screen go red when you’re close to death and then return back to normal if you evade fire for a few seconds. In games like Uncharted, the screen gradually loses colour as you lose health, giving you a visual indication of your status.

Some games do try to break the mould, even if only slightly. In Far Cry 2, the health bar is divided into segments. If the player takes damage and then finds cover, the health bar will refill to the top of the segment it’s currently in, but not all the way to the top. To fully replenish health, the player must use a syringe, which can be picked up from wall mounted health stores. It’s typically the genre which defines what exact health system is used. Straight up kill-fests like CoD normally feature a standard regenerative system, as searching for health packs and the like would ruin the pacing. Games like the aforementioned Far Cry 2 feature the segmented bar, as there is a greater emphasis on realism and healing your own wounds. More horror-orientated games like Bioshock and Dead Space go for your standard health bar, and rely entirely on medikits for healing.

Does this take the skill out of the games? Maybe. In games with health bars you’re given fewer options in any given situation, so if you lost a lot of health earlier on in a level you’re going to find it harder to progress later on. Regenerative health allows you full health all the way through the level, provided you can find some cover when you’re hit. As a by-product of this, the harder difficulties in the games can be ludicrous, where enemy behaviour and skills are taken to the max – a couple of shots can kill, so you’re not even given a chance to heal. If you put them on lower difficulties, though, you may as well be invincible. As some gamers are so used to it, they don’t know how to deal with a health bar. Running in all guns blazing and then ducking into cover to heal no longer works, so the skill of not being hit is something of the past.

As for the future of regenerative health, I believe it’s here to stay. Most developers are including it in their shooters now, and as more sequels to these franchises get released, it’s going to be endlessly recycled as it has been for just under a decade. Any new franchises are going to stick to what’s successful, so it’s not likely we’ll see a return to the glory days of raging at the “GAME OVER” screen.

1) Killzone 2: The Heavy

This was one of the first major heavies I’d ever encountered in a game, and I remember it well. I heard the screams from my fellow soldiers as I turned the corner in Blood Meridian, and there he was. A 7 foot tall, propaganda-fuelled, enraged monster, under inches of armour and firing a minigun with the sole intent of destroying everyone in the immediate vicinity. The key to taking these beasts down relies on shooting the tanks on their back, which sounds easier than it is. To make them turn around you need to send a heavy dose of lead towards their helmet; not an easy task under a hail of bullets and grenades, especially when they can easily make light work of you if you’re not constantly on your guard. The further into the game you go, the more dangerous they become, with one wielding a deadly VC5 Arc Rifle when you reach the Tharsis Refinery.

2) Uncharted 2: Minigun Heavy Soldier

First encountered in A Train to Catch, these are well protected soldiers which can shrug off bullets without breaking a sweat. Each of them carries a man-portable version of the GAU-19 minigun, which is able to shred anything in front of it, so you best make sure you’re behind solid cover. Although extremely slow moving, these soldiers are effectively immune to small arms fire; assault rifles are able to chip off sections of their armour plate, but nothing less than an RPG-7 or M32 Hammer will do any real damage. Make sure to stock up on grenades and rockets, though, these guys will take a pounding before going down.

3) Modern Warfare 2: The Juggernaut

Finally we have The Juggernaut, the most famous entry in this list. Encountered in the Museum level and Special Ops mode of Modern Warfare 2, these are the toughest heavies. Extremely well protected in modified bomb squad armour and surprising agile for their size, they will wander around the map until they spot a victim, at which point they will charge at full speed. Typically armed with an M240 LMG, they will run and fire until the victim is out of sight or they’re dead. It takes nothing less than multiple high explosive and high-calibre sniper rounds to stop these guys once they’re onto you; firing at them with anything else is futile.

That’s Cookie Cutter for this week folks, make sure to check back next week for the next instalment!