Back in the day, whenever you bought a new PC game, you would get a rather large box with your jewel-cased CD and manual. Well, times have really changed, and so has the packaging.

I try to get every game I buy in a DVD Rom version, or Collector's edition. So far, I have FEAR, Oblivion, Quake 4, Call of Duty 2, and Prey in DVD Collector's editions. Why? I don't have to put up with 3 or more CDs being swapped over about 5 minutes or so. The worst case of the CD hassle was with UT 2004. 6 CDs = installation hell.

Another great thing about DVD Rom is that the install times are remarkably short. I purchased the Prey Collector's edition yesterday, and installed it this morning in under a minute.

So this leads me to my point. Is it always worth forking over an extra $10 for it?

Answer: Yes and no.... You can never really tell what you are going to get in the end. A prime example of this is FEAR. That special edition came with a pathetic paper sleeve case, and a short comic. Very underwhelming. FEAR scores an F.

Some games with mid-level packaging were the Quake 4 and Call of Duty 2 special editions. Each came in a full plastic container about the volume of a book. Inside was the manual on one cover, and the one play disk and another for extra features, stacked in a vertical clip holder. They score a B.

Now come our shining examples, Prey and Oblivion. Each had very different packaging. Oblivion came as one unit, no box, and the actual container slides out of the Oblivion sleeve. That opens four ways revealing the play disk on one flap, the specials on another disk, a map of Cyrodiil, the manual, a Septim, and a pocket guide to the Empire. A very good deal.

Prey comes out of the store in a thick package, which to my surprise, had a wire wrapped around it and an alarm system. I take off the paper advertisement sleeve and reveal a full metal tin. Opening the tin, you see the DVD on the top side which unfolded. On the other side, in a fabric bound chest of sorts, are the pewter figures, the Art of Prey booklet, your manual, a free soundtrack download code from Direct Song, and some hardware discounts.

These two games have some of the best packaging I have ever seen. A for both.


Two pictures of the Prey limited edition set....
Box/Tin
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