Close Up: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance Premium Package

As with nearly every major Metal Gear title in Japan, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance was also available as a ‘Premium Package’ upon release. These Premium Packages are special edition bundles that usually come in large boxes and contain some nice extras for collectors.

The Metal Gear Rising Premium Package is a bit smaller than the one for Metal Gear Solid 3, but it’s still an impressive box. On the front you can see a close up of Raiden readying his sword for combat.

On the back – visible after removing the sheet of paper describing the contents – a shiny print of the game’s logo.

The box is made of sturdy, glossy cardboard with a slanted opening running along the middle (probably made to look like Raiden sliced it in half). Due to the shininess and silver background, the whole box gives off an industrial, metallic vibe, which fits well with the aesthetics of the game and its cybernetic sword wielding, armor wearing protagonist.

The inner box has more or less the same artwork but in monochrome, warmer colors. On this artwork, Raiden is in combat mode, wearing his visor over his face.

The reflection on his blade is different as well: you can see the enemies that you will face in the game, while the other art shows Raiden himself in the suit he’s wearing at the beginning of the game.

This inner box holds all the contents, and removing the lid reveals its goodies.

The first thing you’ll see is an artbook. It doesn’t have too many pages, but what’s really nice about it is the size. Often artbooks included in special editions are quite small because they have to fit an a smaller box, but for this one they used all the space they had. Each page is in A4 size, with some artworks taking up a whole double page spread. It’s nice to see concept art printed in such a large size for once.

Especially since most of the artwork in there is by Yoji Shinkawa. And you can’t go wrong with Shinkawa. The prints look nice and colorful, so there’s nothing to complain about here.

After taking out the artbook the rest of the contents are revealed.

To the left are two cases: one contains the game, the other is a steelbook holding a soundtrack cd.

The game’s boxart is quite nice, it may not be by Shinkawa but the render has stylish subdued colors and a nice silver sheen.

The soundtrack is actually rather extensive, containing no less than 32 tracks. However, none of the vocal tracks are on there, which makes sense as Konami released those as a separate, stand alone soundtrack cd.

Last but not least, a set with two figurines of the Dwarf Gekkos found in the game. Quite possibly the most entertaining extra in the box.

Their arms and wrists can be bended in all sorts of directions to create numerous poses.

You can also attach the two together, as demonstrated in the instructions.

Also, they can be taken apart in two halves, as if Raiden has sliced straight trough them with his sword, revealing their electronic innards. They snap back together using small built-in magnets.

The figures come with eight extra hands: four open ones and four closed fists. So you can swap them to your heart’s content.

To conclude, this is quite a nice package. When it comes to its presentation, everything looks slick and shiny, really embracing the term ‘premium’. The soundtrack contains a lot of songs (unfortunately none of the vocal tracks though), the artbook features some spectacular prints and the figurines are a fun addition to the regular figures on the market.

Other Premium Packages:

• Metal Gear Solid Premium Package
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Premium Package
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Premium Package
• Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops Konami Style Premium Package
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD Premium Package
• Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence Premium Package
• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Premium Package