Close Up: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Collector’s Edition
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will officially release on September 1st, 2015. There are several versions available, such as the Day One Edition, the regular edition and the Collector’s Edition. In Japan there’s also a Premium Package that includes a full scale bionic arm replica. In the other regions, the arm included in the Collector’s Edition is only half size.
The Collector’s Edition is only available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, though here in the Benelux it seems like the Xbox One version got cancelled altogether, in the last minute. Either way, in this article we’ll look at the PlayStation 4 PAL (Dutch) version of the Collector’s Edition, which is slightly different from the North American version in some regards.
First of all, let’s take a look at the box itself. It’s a large rectangular container with a fake leather surface (which is actually just a print). One thing that’s a bit annoying is that when you remove the ‘outer peel’ (as Skull Face would put it) it leaves some mark on the surface of the box because it’s glued to it.
On the front it has been decorated with a Diamond Dogs logo. This emblem is made out of metal and has a magnetic surface on the back, so you can stick it on your fridge afterwards.
The box folds open in a ‘v’-shape (fitting for this title), after which the contents can be removed from the front.
The main extra with this edition is the half scale bionic arm replica that represent Big Boss’ arm in the game.
It’s actually quite light in terms of weight. Its fingers can be moved so you can make all kinds of gestures, and it can even hold objects. It looks quite good and authentic to the one in the game, with a nice attention to detail.
There’s also a steelbook with a nice artwork showing Snake and Miller on the front (from Ground Zeroes), and Snake and Ocelot on the back. This case contains a Blu-Ray with bonus material (interviews, trailers and a ‘Phantom Episode’).
On the inside is also an artwork showing an x-ray of Snake.
Further included in this case is a map of Afghanistan on one side, and Africa on the other (the two main areas in the game).
The set obviously includes the game itself, which looks identical to the regular edition, but with an ugly yellow text box on the front and the back that says it’s not available separately.
Lastly, there is some downloadable content: one code for the ‘Day One additional content’ and one for ‘Metal Gear Online additional content’: an emblem, four outfits for Snake, three cardboard boxes, weapons and armor, four MGO items and an XP boost.
All in all, a nice collector’s edition, with the main attraction of course being the arm. A lot of people may be disappointed the arm is only half the size of the one included in the Japanese Premium Package, but it does help keep the price down by more than 50%. It’s an original item to include in a CE, and fun to play around with due to its articulation. The items included are all well made and overall the price feels fair for this package.
