The Bioshock Limited Edition: Requested by fans, exclusive to Gamestop/EB Games, contents voted upon, and an extra 10 dollars. But what does that extra 10 dollars get you? The advertised perks of the Bioshock Limited Edition are: a Big Daddy figurine, a soundtrack CD, a behind-the-scenes DVD. Let’s cover these one at a time:

Big Daddy Figurine

Rather awesome, provided the tip of your figurine’s drill hand isn’t broken. I don’t have numbers on the failure rate here, but apparently it happened enough that 2K Games has offered to replace the figurine and throw in a printed edition of the Bioshock art book. The painting on the Big Daddy could use a bit more detail, but overall it’s a hefty collector’s item that will inspire awe in your friends and family.

Soundtrack CD

That’s kind of a stretch. If you’ve ever been burned by picking up a movie soundtrack CD only to discover you bought “Music inspired by the movie”, you know how I’m feeling right about now. The included CD packs a whopping 3 tracks…not tracks from the original game score, but techno remixes by Moby & Oscar the Punk of the classic songs found in game like “Beyond the Sea”. On a scale from 1 to Suck, these remixes ring in right around Piss Poor.

Behind-the-Scenes DVD

Perhaps the greatest disappointment of the Limited Edition. Where fans expected some looks…behind the scenes, they have instead been treated to a series of uncomfortable interviews with the game developers in front of a green screen. There aren’t the customary shots inside the development environment, over the artists’ shoulders, inside the sound booth with the audio team, etc., just people talking about making the game. There is honestly an entire DVD chapter on the Art of Bioshock without even so much as a screenshot. Behind-the-scenes game movies have been around since the introduction of the CD-ROM, the earliest I can think of being included with Myst in 1993. If you haven’t seen that in a while, give it a look and see what a behind-the-scenes movie should be. 2K Games totally tanked on this.

Not So Limited Content

Perhaps the most surprising yet encouraging moves following the release of Bioshock are the public release of both the art book and the original score on the internet. This is the stuff that could be in a limited edition, and yet it’s out there for anyone to download and enjoy. I’m not complaining that these assets are available outside of the limited edition, but how about including a hi-res version of the art book and full score CD with the paid limited edition? Either way, I’ve downloaded them, and they are excellent.

Conclusion

$10 for a Big Daddy figurine ain’t so bad, frankly, and the box for the limited edition looks nice on the shelf. And oh yeah, Bioshock is in the box, so that makes me happy.