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Super Robot Wars: A primer

In 2003, I played my first Super Robot Wars game. At that time I was only a fledgling Gundam fan, with little knowledge of mecha and Japanese in general, but this series totally blew me away with its beautiful animation, and I've been hooked ever since.

For those who don't know, Super Robot Wars (Super Robot Taisen) is a crossover, turn based strategy game like akin to Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem or Disgaea. One of the main drawing points of SRW though, is being able to use units and characters from various popular anime series, such as Gundam, Evangelion, and Macross, and other lesser well known in the west, like Mazinger Z.

As with said games, the missions are played out on a grid based map, with the player and enemies taking turns in moving, and attacking each other. Pilots level up as they defeat more enemies and learn new skills which can be cast in battle, such as increasing evasion and accuracy for one turn, or doing double damage on the next attack. Unit stats like HP, energy and weapons can be upgraded in between missions, and also equipped with parts dropped by enemies.

Gameplay in SRW is similar to other SRPGs like Fire Emblem and FF Tactics

With all these different anime series in one place, you get some interesting crossover storylines. In recent games, Blue Cosmos from Gundam SEED allied with the Titans faction from Z Gundam, and in the latest game Super Robot Wars Z, there was a 4 way battle between enemies from Gravion, Aquarion, Mazinger, and the protagonists.

Banpresto have been pretty liberal with in jokes spawned from the crossover, such as Vega from Gear Fighter Dendoh being able to call for the launch of EVA-1, because the voice actress is the same in both animes. Or Shinji "the wuss" Ikari from Evangelion being bitchslapped around by Tetsuya from Great Mazinger until he mans the hell up.

There is also a distinction between the mechas from different series. The game seperates units into two classes, Real Robot and Super Robot. Real Robots are small, agile, and use conventional weaponary, but have low HP. Series which are classed as Real Robots are typically all Gundam series (with the exception of the crazy G Gundam), Macross, and Full Metal Panic. Super Robots are normally associated with the crazy Japanese robot designs from the 70s, having large amount of HP, using eye beams, rocket punches and the power of awesome to dish out huge damage, but these units usually have lower accuracy compared to their real counterparts.

Freedom and Gundam X are your typical Real Robots while Aquarion and Big O are classed as Super Robots

One of the trademarks of the series is the chibi artstyle and awesome hand drawn animations for all the robots. Whenever you attack an enemy, you are treated with a side scrolling animation of your unit attacking the enemy, followed by the enemy counterattack. This may be just a Gundam shooting a beam rifle, or Getter Robo doing Shine Spark, but in recent years the developers at Banpresto have tried to keep the animations as faithful to the original anime as possible. Every new SRW game that comes out never ceases to amaze me with the detail that go into these animations. The recent release of Super Robot Wars Z on PS2 gave us hi-definition sprites for the very first time, resulting in some of the best eye candy ever seen.

Promo Vid for Super Robot Wars Z. Watch it...seriously

In terms of strategy, things that you have to account for when attacking the enemy are terrain advantages, as some robots and weapons perform differently in air, land, sea or space. Powerful attacks are sealed off from use until pilots gain enough morale to use them, which is acquired through destroying an enemy or getting hit, which means you need to plan who gets kills in order to use your most powerful attacks on the boss.

Gameplay wise, the game is as hard as you want to make it. The game offers bonus points for completing optional special objectives during each mission, such as completing the mission in X turns, or defeating a certain boss before it runs away. These objectives vary from easy to requiring extreme planning, but trying to achieve all of them is one of the game's challenges, because usually they unlock some nice secret characters/mecha late game. Hardcore fans often try the 'no upgrade' challenge, which in combination with the special objectives result in several broken controllers and rage resets.

Sword Impulse Gundam tears up Chaos with its Excalibur attack in SRWZ

Banpresto have also released a spin off series called Original Generation for GBA, and more recently a PS2 remake. As every SRW game contains at least a few original characters, the OG series is an original story with just Banpresto Originals and their respective plots. While the characters may be new and unfamiliar, the game is just as good, and plays almost the same as it's mainstream counterparts.

Promo vid for Super Robot Wars Original Generations. This is an enhanced remake of 2 GBA games for PS2, and only contains Banpresto original characters

Don't be discouraged by the fact that the game is in Japanese. When I started playing I did not know a shred of Japanese, after playing often and using guides I actually managed to learn Hiragana/Katakana and some Kanji even, just from playing. That's how awesome SRW is.

For any mecha fans out there that haven't already played this game, I strongly urge to you try this series. For owners of PS2s, a good place to start is Super Robot Wars MX, one of the easiest entries in the series. For DS owners, there is Super Robot Wars W, and Super Robot Wars K which just came out recently. Sadly this is one series that will probably see an official English port or translation, but those who actually want to understand the story, AGTP have been working on translating some of the PS1 games for quite some time, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Atlus have also translated Super Robot Wars: Original Generation 1 and 2 for GBA.

For those interested and looking to get started, here are some good resources to help you out:

• Super Robot Wars Genesis - A forum for SRW players
• SRW Wiki - A wiki which has the translations of all the menus and commands in the games
  

PSN vs XBLA - The digital console war

In the last few years, much digital ink has been devoted to the endless debate over whether the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 is the superior console. The debate has centered around areas such as graphics, price, online gaming, attach rates and game libraries. However, one of the least discussed areas is also (in my opinion), one of the most exciting. It is an area that serves as a testing ground for publishers trying out new and inventive business models. It is a microcosm of the industry where blockbuster AAA titles with multi-million dollar budgets live alongside independent developers. This area is the digital marketplace. Both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 have served up Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) and Playstation Network (PSN) respectively as contenders for the king of online game distribution. But which one deserves the crown?

Disclaimer: All points made below are from the perspective of someone living in Australia. Some points may not be relevant to US audiences

Variety of Content

Variety is something that's very difficult to provide a clear and objective evaluation on. We could define it as having a large amount of content, which would qualify one service as superior for simply having more titles of a given type. On the other hand, we could define variety as having different types of content. I will qualify my statements here by saying that I am choosing the latter definition simply because this provides greater options for a larger variety of users rather than providing a plethora of content aimed at a specific user type.

In the category of variety, XBLA has had somewhat of an advantage having been on the market for longer than PSN. The current offering of XBLA ranges from updated classics like Doom and Duke Nukem, to new and innovative gems such as Braid. We've even seen a (so far unsuccessful) foray into the community with the Community Games initiative. Unfortunately, due to severe restrictions by Microsoft regarding what kind and size of content is allowed on XBLA, big budget games are largely missing from the feature list. Xbox Originals, a large number of demos, DLC, avatar clothes and premium themes round out a highly impressive list of available content. Say what you will about premium themes and avatars, but anything that puts more options in the user's hand without having an adverse effect on other users is fine by me.

The Playstation has a slightly different variety of content. It is quite obvious that the designers of PSN had a different angle from which they wished to approach digital distribution. Similar to XBLA, PSN offers previous generation classics in the form of PSOne Classics. However, PSN has forgone remakes of Doom era classics and put more resources into new projects like the Pixeljunk games, Flower and Elefunk. Additionally, Sony has placed emphasis on impressive big budget releases like Wipeout HD and Warhawk, giving it a unique flavour when compared to XBLA. The ability to purchase PSP games is a nice feature but is contingent upon ownership of a PSP.

Advantage: XBLA
XBLA narrowly edged out PSN in this category primarly because we are attempting not to make a value judgment based on whether a type of content is useful (Community games and premium themes might be contenders for some healthy debate here). In the end XBLA wins this category simply for offering more types of content. Video offerings were not considered in this evaluation because these things are virtually non-existent outside the United States.

Ease of Use

Few categories are as subjective as ease of use. If you listen closely on a quiet night, you might be able to hear the distant sobbing of a software designer because his users want a product that is "easier to use". Nevertheless, we shall persevere and try our hand.

Perhaps the first point to make on ease of use for XBLA is the prevalence of demos. All XBLA games and many non-downloadable games have demos available on Xbox Live. A huge list of demos lets users try before they buy, reducing cases of the dreaded buyer's remorse. Such a feature is a must when dealing with a new distribution medium which a majority of users are still unsure about. Content that is easy to find, try and purchase should be hallmarks of a any good marketplace. Unfortunately, Microsoft seems to stumble in the other two areas. The Microsoft Points system is quite possibly the worst implementation of a payment model that could have been designed. Whatever the original intentions might have been, the system comes across as deliberately confusing in order to obscure the true cost of purchasing content. Additionally, the last major interface redesign (New Xbox Experience), while better looking, does little to make content easier to nagivate and search.

Ironically PSN seems to be the exact opposite of what XBLA does in terms of usability. The interface in PSN is significantly easier to navigate than XBL with menus that are faster to navigate and clear indications as to how deep in the menu system you are. Payments are all made in real world currency leading to significantly less headaches from awkward mathematical calculations being done mentally. However, PSN stumbles in the one area XBLA shines. Demos. In comparison to XBLA, there is a significant lack of demos for big budget and smaller independent games.

Advantage: PSN
Another close category, but this time PSN takes the win. A lack of demos can to some extent be offset by doing some research online in the form of reading reviews, forums and viewing some gameplay videos. However, PSN's real world currency transactions far outshine the headache-inducing Microsoft point system. The interface on PSN, which (in my opinion) is better, but not by much. If XBL offered a real world currency option, this category would likely be a tie.

DLC

Microsoft has been rather ruthless in this area. They offered a rumored $50million to 2kGames for two xbox-exclusive DLC packs to GTA4 (one of which, The Lost and Damned, was released recently). They also secured exclusive rights to multiple DLC packs for Fallout 3, in the form of Operation Anchorage and The Pitt. Not to mention the DLC packs for Fable 2 and multiple other titles.

PSN on the other hand has managed to secure DLC for Mirror's Edge, a (disappointingly) less than popular game from last year. Their other high profile DLC pack was for Versus mode addition to Resident Evil 5. This DLC has been met by significant controversy and on the whole has not fared very well.

This one's a no brainer.
Advantage: XBLA

Quality of Content

When discussing quality, most articles invariably end of producing metacritic graphs and charts. We are going to take a slightly different approach here. Rather than compare the output of an arguably flawed aggregate system (when used to compare in too much detail), I will simply provide my opinion on how I view both lineups.

As we discussed earlier, Xbox Live's emphasis appears to be skewed slightly towards remakes of older games or more "arcadey" style games (if the word Arcade in the name didn't give it away). Even new IPs on the platform like Castle Crashers have a look and feel that hearken back to old era arcade games. There is the occasional unique gem such as the XBLA poster child: Braid. Nevertheless, for every Braid, there are a hundred old-school titles like Castlevania, Worms, Bomberman and Sonic the Hedgehog. When judging based on quality, these titles have been remade for a reason. They were/are extremely good.

PSN on the other hand has taken a more forward looking approach. There are less remakes and more original IPs with strong production values. Games like Warhawk experiment with digital distribution models, while smaller games like Echochrome, Flower and Flow push the industry forward with imaginative, fresh and unique gameplay. Kudos to Sony for having the audacity to produce these games in an industry that is endlessly spiraling downward towards less risky, bland projects.

Advantage: Tie
Dissapointing as a tie might be, the offerings provided by both services are unique enough that it is too difficult to make a direct comparison. While the quality of old-school arcade games on XBLA might be high, they are high because they were produced many years ago and have been ported to XBLA with the knowledge of hindsight that these games stand the test of time. While, on the surface this might be enough to give the prize to XBLA, points must be given to Sony for producing new and exciting IPs to a surprisingly high degree of quality. In terms of innovation in content, PSN is by far the superior service (online play is another matter). Ultimately this decision could go either way depending on your perspective. The only fair outcome is a Tie.

Overall

Ultimately this decision is going to be a matter of opinion. Based on the above categories, the two services offer a relatively similar level quality. Each has its own advantages, XBLA offers a better variety of content, while PSN offers a slightly better interface and payment options. The types of titles and content are unique enough that it would be unfair to make a direct comparison of them. This leads us to the following decision based solely on the discussion above:
Overall Winner: Tie

At the end of the day, digital distribution is a new content delivery medium. Publishers, developers and consumers aren't really sure how this will all fit together and what ultimate destination we're all heading towards. The decision about the best online marketplace must take the context of the industry into account rather than being based on a purely numerical or objective criteria. The model adopted by XBLA which is a backward looking model that celebrates the best that gaming has had to offer over past decades and brings them into the modern day with leaderboards and online play. The model adopted by PSN is a forward looking model that redefines gaming genres and explores new areas of gameplay with varying degrees of success.

Digital content delivery is the new industry buzz word (alongside casual gaming). It has an increasingly large number of supporters who view it as the future of the gaming industry. When you turn the clock forward and look at the gaming industry in 10 years time, the XBLA model runs the risk of becoming repetitive. What is the point of remaking classics if we don't create games that will become classics in the future? Do we want a model that celebrates our successes, or one that fosters innovation and pushes the industry forward into exciting new territory? I know which one I want.
Revised Overall Winner: PSN

Classic gaming: Shenmue, a love hate relationship

I would like to extend my thanks to Yu Suzuki for making this awesome game. I would also like to extend a massive FUCK YOU to Yu Suzuki for making this game.

Here's why.

Yu Suzuki, creator of Virtua Fighter, decided one day he wanted to make an RPG based on Virtua Fighter. Not only would this game be an RPG, but it would be almost a simulation of life itself, and thus he created the term FREE or Full-Reactive Eyes Entertainment, a term which really doesn't make any sense.

In 2000, Sega released this game as a killer-app for the now defunct Dreamcast system. At the time, the game was revolutionary; it had cutting edge graphics, a very detailed fictional depiction of the Japanese town of Yokosuka, full voice overs for every NPC in the game, changing weather effects and day/night cycles.



The plot was a simple revenge story. Ryo Hazuki, returns home one day to find his father murdered before him. The main part of the game is Ryo trying to find of the location of the murderer so he can exact his revenge. As a RPG type game based on Virtua Fighter, there is fighting involved, and Ryo himself is based on Akira from Virtua Fighter. Ryo himself has a very generic personality, much like Ryu from Street Fighter, he speaks little, fights alot, and would rather much go looking for sailors than bang his very hot lady friends who would all like a piece of him.

Ryo, always looking out for those sailors

The actual game itself involved walking around the town of Yokosuka trying to find clues as to where he can find the killer. But of course, this being a life simulator, there's several ways for you to get distracted, and not do important stuff, say finding clues pertaining the murder of your father. Like feeding the local stranded kitten milk, playing arcade games, stalking people and buying gashapon. The game also gave birth to the legendary term 'Quick Time Event' which made you have to press a button during some random cutscene without warning.

Ryo chasing some sailors

And like real life, you also get badgered by family for going home too late, and you also have to work for your money later by driving a forklift and delivering boxes. At one point I felt kind of retarded, because I feel that this part of the game was added for the sake of making the game 'realistic'. Who the hell wants to play a game to do menial shit for the sake of it? At least slaying mobs in RPGs can be kind of fun in a leveling up perspective.

Penny Arcade says it all

And here's the problem with Shenmue. It was just way too ambitious. Is it a life simulator? Is it an RPG? Is it a fighting game? The plot is very focused, but everything about the game encourages you to mess around until the last minute. For a game that started off as a Virtua Fighter RPG, I wouldn't say there is enough fighting in the game for it to be called that.

Suzuki envisioned some kind of epic story spanning 6 games or so. The story of the first game itself wasn't that great, but it was good enough to make me eagerly anticipate the sequel. In fact, when I found out that the sequel was almost not going to get an English release, I freaked out, even going as far as playing the JP version without knowing what the hell was going on.

This epic game came at an epic cost too, with the game costing around $70 million USD to make, and in order for SEGA to make any kind of profit, every Dreamcast owner would have to buy two copies of the game. Only recently GTA4 has eclipsed this record ($100 million USD), but 70 million was probably alot more in 1999. Surely there were alarm bells ringing back then?


SEGA were crazy enough to release a sequel a year later in 2001. The game continued Ryo's story as he traveled to Hong Kong in pursuit of his father's murderer. The game added more ways to amuse yourself, for now you could earn money in different ways such as button mashing for armwrestling to earn money, fight for money, and then gamble it all away at pachinko, but the core gameplay remained the same.

There wasn't nearly enough fighting in the first game, thankfully Shenmue II addresses this

But even after the second game ended, more questions on the plot were raised and none were answered at all. Does Ryo end up getting laid? How does he murderize Lan-Di at the end?
With the Dreamcast on the way out at that time, and re-release of Shenmue II on Xbox at the time, I bought one, hoping one day I could play Shenmue III and at least finish the story. Today I am still waiting. And hope has all but faded with Yu Suzuki 'stepping down' from his role at SEGA, and in the current financial crisis I don't see SEGA taking huge financial risks like Shenmue up again soon. And we're left with the cliff hanger ending from Shenmue II that we'll never know the end to. Fuck Yu.

All I can say is this. Be vary of games which claim they are going to be some kind of epic saga before they start out. Xenosaga is also guilty of this, but at least they managed to finish the story before they called it quits. But shit happens over time, consoles die, production costs blow out etc, and it never happens in the end.

Classic gaming: Skies of Arcadia

Where YJ revisits an old favourite

In 1999, Sega released the Dreamcast. The system had a good variety of games, most of which were arcade ports, but fans of the system were hoping for an RPG that could be the system's own Final Fantasy. In the following year, gamers were blessed with this true gem of a game.

Skies of Arcadia was a refreshing breeze in a rather depressing era in terms of RPG settings. Final Fantasy 7 and 8 had given us some of the most emo main characters ever, with Cloud and Squall, who'd much rather be a douche than banging his hot 18 year old teaching carrying a bullwhip. So with much surprise when I booted this up, I found everything to be so...uplifting.



The setting alone was enough to make me want to play this game. Air Pirates? Huge galleons sailing through the skies? Yeah, I'll take it! The introduction sequence is pretty epic too, reminiscent of Star Wars, with the Star Destroyer chasing the corvette.

Service with a smile

From the characters, to the music, and setting, everything about this game gives you a good vibe. The main character, Vyse is so incredibly upbeat in the gloomiest scenarios. There are also some interesting non typical RPG characters, such as Drachma, the homage to Captain Ahab from Moby Dick.

Drachma....harrrrr!

A common theme throughout is the game is 'achieving the impossible' and 'exploring the unknown'. The game world you are introduced into is huge, but relatively unexplored world story wise, with several environmental hazards sealing off access to various parts of the world.

Just flying through the skies in my boat

As the story progresses, the game is constantly making the player achieve 'world firsts' to bypass these hazards and discover new frontiers, such as first person to cross the Mid Ocean, first person to enter the Dark Rift, or first person to escape the Imperial Grand Fortress. The plot is also well paced, with each obstacle to overcome seemingly more impossible than the last, and constantly giving you new things to discover. Replaying this recently, I've realised that in the first 7 hours of gameplay, I've felt I've accomplished so much in the game world compared to most RPGs...and this game took 60+ hours on my first go to finish.

The large overworld meant a lot of flying around, but unlike most RPGs, the map was meant to be explored, and not something you just walk through to get to the next area.

The game does have it's fair share of problems though. The battle system is a turn based system that isn't well implemented. For each turn, you choose all the actions that each of your four party members will do. Then the entire turn plays out. The problem is that you can't see whatever order the characters will attack, so planning out attacks to take out dangerous enemies before they hit you is blind luck. This also makes guarding against powerful boss attacks extremely annoying.

Magic sucks in this game

There is also a Spirit Points (SP) system, which all actions except attacking and using items use. This gauge is shared across your party, and every turn you get X points based on the total Spirit attribute of your party. Because magic takes SP (and MP) and items don't, magic in this game sucks balls and there's no real reason for using it, especially later when you get items that can do the said magic spells. Instead, SP is and should be used for kick ass special moves unique to each character. Aika, Vyse's support character has a special move "Lambda Burst" which hits all enemies at once for massive damage, once your party has enough spirit to use it on the first turn, it becomes an instant "I WIN" button for quite some time.

Later during the game, your party also gains the capability to do a special super move, by saving until maximum spirit points in a battle. This is a rather weird feature that is never mentioned anywhere in the game or manual and does not have any story relevance, so you'd only know about it by either finding it by accident or reading some FAQ. Not only does it heal you, it does massive damage to the enemy at the same time, and ends the current turn instantly, leaving no chance for retaliation. This makes later boss fights rather cheap as you can just guard until full points and unleash this attack, rinse and repeat until you win.

Ship battles, one of the games' unique features

Unique to the game are ship battles which sees your ship vs whatever is unlucky enough to run into you. Works similar to normal battles, but you plot your attacks on a 4x4 grid representing your characters and turns. Each character can only be used once until the current round ends, whether it's attacking, using an item, or guarding. Each sub-turn also has a colour, green, yellow or red associated with it, which is how damaging the enemy attack on that turn will be, and occasionally there's a C! mark which means you'll do extra damage to them on that turn. Then you get weapons that can shoot over several turns, torpedoes which you can choose which turn to hit in, and even super moves which can only be fired with certain conditions. This makes ship battles slightly more strategic, and quite epic, but some of the later battles can drag out to around 30 minutes, especially if you don't know what you're doing, but they are quite fun to play.

But despite it's flaws, Skies of Arcadia remains of my favourite games and RPGs ever. I would rate it above even some of Square's masterpieces like FF7 and FFX, because the overall experience it delivers makes you feel like you are part of the game world. It also offers something different and original to the rest of RPGs out there, even in the leagues of todays' games.

EB Games - making them work for you

EB Games has gathered much scorn over the past few years as being the gaming retail outlet that charges RRP for everything. Why buy at EB when you can go to JB to get it much cheaper? Despite this, I actually do most of my games shopping at EB nowadays. Here's why.


Price Matching - EB will price match any store's lower price ie everyone else. What's cool is that you can actually price match up to 7 days later after you bought it, they may only give you store credit back for it though.

Webmail voucher - it's like having a permanent 15% off software, which despite their crazy prices is actually sometimes cheaper than buying elsewhere. Best used on really expensive items like Collector's Editions.

Return Policy - 7 days to play and return anything. If only I had bought Alone in the Dark Collectors Edition from them last year...

Preorder bonuses - EB usually offer some kind of exclusive preorder bonus with popular games, and you could always just return the game afterwards.

Crazy Trade deals - EB games usually have some kind of crazy trade scheme for AAA release titles. Usually they will give more than the cheapest price you can pay with it elsewhere you can actually make/save some money. They don't give you cash of course, but think of it as a saving on your next game. Or in combination with JBs trade deals you can pull off some really crazy shit (see Red Elite for $60 ).

There are some things to watch out for of course. The main one being that usually they will only give store credit for refunds or whatever. I bought a Pro console once, which I then found JB were offering Kung Fu Panda/Lego Indy with their pack for cheaper. I tried to return my unopened Pro, but was told I could only get store credit. After much hassling, I managed to price match and get store credit + the 2 games. I usually plan my purchases well, so store credit is never useless to me.

Collectors / Limited / Special Editions in gaming

Where YJ is bitter about all the money he's wasted on 'collectors' editions over the past few years
Special editions of games have been on the rise over the past few years. These days it seems that every second game has some kind of Collectors / Limited / Special edition. I'll just refer to them as CE from now on, because they often mean the same thing. These CE usually include some kind of 'Making Of' DVD along with some fancy tin case, but do the extras really justify the extra cost?


The answer varies greatly between games. There's no real standards when it comes to these CE so the publishers are free to include whatever they want in the package then charge accordingly. You'll might get some special editions that don't cost any more than the game itself, others that cost twice as much.

Let's look at the reasons why you would CE. You have the group that is a general fan of the series, and they buy the CE because they love the game and don't mind spending extra for some goodies. You have the collector, who generally buys stuff just to own it, and finally the compulsive buyer, who needs to buy everything that's got the word 'Limited' on it.

The problem for gamers is that publishers have discovered that some people out there will fork out the extra dosh for a CE, especially for AAA titles. Myself included. That's why most of the hit releases over the last year such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5 all have CE, and the publishers are charging a premium price for them. Here's some examples of some CE that have been released over the last year or two:

Fallout 3 (89 AUD for standard/170 AUD for Collectors) - In this pack you get a tin lunchbox, a small A5 artbook thing, a 'Making of' DVD and a plastic bobblehead thing. Pretty good inclusions, but for almost double the price? A real slap in the face. Even with the EB Games 15% off voucher, it still ends up at around 144 AUD which could almost buy you 2 games.

Street Fighter IV (99 AUD for standard/129 AUD for Special Edition) - you get a larger sized cardboard box that acts as a diorama for the 2 awful Ryu and C. Viper figurines, a copy of the SF4 anime short 'The ties that bind', a crappy half assed 'strategy guide' which is more like a move list, and a DLC worth 300MS points. Worth it? Maybe, but is a rather average anime and some crappy figures woth an extra $30? Considering you could've gotten the game for around $60 AUD with some trade bait for JB, you're paying double for some really crappy inclusions.

Resident Evil 5 (99 AUD for standard/129 AUD for limited / 170 AUD for collectors - the limited comes in a tin case with the 'making of' DVD. The collectors comes with the same as the limited, but you get a special cardboard box, a small Chris figurine, a Kijuju necklace, a BSAA patch and a Tricell cloth carry bag thing. Worth it? When the game first game out, the standard edition could have been had for around $40 with JB's 2 game trade in and some cheap bait at EB. But that aside, the lmited can be had for around 110 AUD with the 15% voucher, which makes it slightly more reasonable.

One of the worst value CE's ever made

The collectors pack on the other hand, comes with crappy trinkets that feel really cheap. The only thing that's possibly worth anything is the bag, then again it's nothing special, and definately not worth the $144 (with discount), and as hell not worth $170. Capcom really screwed the fans on this one. Couldn't we at least have gotten the cool Chainsaw/virus vial USB key that Japan/USA got?

Grand Theft Auto 4 (standard 89AUD/special 150AUD) - this came with a GTA4 carry bag, an artbook, a music CD and a really study metal lock box. Like you could kill someone with it. At $150 though, you'd have second thoughts about buying it, and don't expect it to appreciate anytime soon either, as it seems Rockstar have made more than an ample supply of these things.

Decent inclusions...but for double the price?

Fable 2 - the limited edition and standard edition both cost the same, the only difference is you get a different case with the limited, a cardboard sleeve and a 'making of' DVD. Very little in terms of stuff, but hey you're not paying any extra for it either.

Alone in the Dark - I'm not going to say what this game was originally worth, but this game (collectors edition) is now available at EB Games 2 for $50 sale. The game itself is worth $0, so for $25 you get an artbook, a 'making of' DVD, a music CD, a crappy Carnby figurine, and a pretty unique box to top it off. Now if you can bear to play the game, you are getting yourself a pretty good deal, but don't expect a good CLS to make up for a crappy game.

Surprisingly good value for $25...too bad the game sucks balls

Far Cry 2 - you get a T-shirt, a 'making of' DVD, a map or something, and a really sturdy box made out of WOOD. This is one CE I wanted that I missed out on because I got a copy of the game before the CE (which nobody seems to be buying) went down in price substantially. Worth it if you can find it cheap.

Devil May Cry 4 - CE was the same price as the standard, but came in a nice tin case with a small artbook inside. Why wouldn't you buy it?

Halo Wars (79AUD standard/99AUD collectors) - The CE comes with a tin case, some card things, and a DLC codes for the Halo 3 mythic map pack. This is a rare case because if you were smart, the mythic map pack could be sold on Ebay for 200AUD upwards before the game came out in the US. The CE could also be obtained for around $60 using trade bait at JB, making this one of the best value CE's out there.

Metal Gear Solid 4 - I can't even remember how much the CE for this was, but I never even had the chance to get my hands on it. The PAL CE came with a Snake figurine and a 'making of' BluRay. This was one of the few CE's that are actually limited, and thus one of the only that has significantly appreciated on Ebay.

These are just some of the games out there that received the CE treatment. The problem is publishers have realised that CE's sell quite well, but most of the time the inclusions are rubbish and not worth the extra $70 or so you have to pay. Or in the case of Halo 3 Collector's Edition, there were actually MORE copies of it made than the standard edition, making it rather pointless.

Of course, more often than not, you can't resisting buying a CE and cave in. Just always ask yourself first, are you a huge fan of the game? Is the inclusions worth the extra cash you're paying? There are other ways to make CE's slightly more affordable too. For example, always shop around JB and EB, and sometimes EB with 15% off is cheaper. Take advantage of JB trade deals, and high EB trade values for new games, and put that extra credit towards your CE.