God of War II does absolutely everything right. It is undoubtedly the best action-adventure game thus far this year for any system, and is the ultimate swan song for the PlayStation 2. I won’t sit here and sing the praises of its near-perfect gameplay and pacing, as you can do that yourself by reading any review you want, but instead, there are several things I want to touch upon that God of War II does better than nearly any game.

As far as collector’s editions go, God of War II is one of the best. Oh wait, God of War II doesn’t have a collector’s edition. That’s because collector’s editions suck, and God of War II is anything but suck.

Collector’s editions are little more than a cash grab by the publisher to squeeze a few more dollars out of the consumer. Okay, that may be a bit harsh, but after seeing what collector sets look like in Japan, I really do feel that the Western market has a long way to go in terms of learning what “collector” means.

Most collector’s editions cost $10 more than the regular edition, and you normally get an extra special box, perhaps made of tin, that looks pretty but does not fit very well on the rack next to your games. I didn’t buy a collector’s edition of a game all throughout last year. It was difficult passing up on the Gears of War CE because it including documentary material, for which I am usually deeply interested in. The Lost Planet CE was little more than joke. The only “extra swag material” that I got last year was the pre-order bonus EB Games offered with Castlevania: POR, which was a Japan-level set of goodies. Kudos to the marketers at Konami and GameStop.

Going back to God of War II, there was no collector’s edition for that game – even when there easily could have been – because either the developer or Sony decided to make every edition of the game a collector’s edition (by today’s standards of what it means to be a CE). Every copy of GoW II is a two disc set complete with a DVD dedicated to the making of the game. The first God of War was also good about this too, with all the documentary material unlocked after completing the game.

I understand that the extra $10 for the collector’s edition pays for the bonuses that one may get, and no one is forcing me to buy the extra bits, but I’m just so impressed with SCEA’s decision to put all the extra material into one edition for everyone. I’m not even sure if the average gamer would watch any of the bonus material after completing the game, but I did – and it gave me an even greater appreciation for the hard work that went into development.

I’ll likely be picking up the CE for Halo 3 (but not the insane $130 that Bungie/Microsoft wants for the insane Legendary edition) because I’ll want to know more about the game’s evolution after I finish the single player story.

There’s a bit of a grey area in my tolerance for collector’s editions of games. If games eventually go the way of special editions do for DVD, I suppose I’d be ok with that. With DVD movies, many releases don’t come with an extra disc of features, though there may be the odd bonus trailer or interview thrown in for that extra bulletpoint on the back of the box. For the true movie nut, there could be a special collector’s box set with an overload of extras. Still, the regular edition would feature a small helping of extra material, such as a commentary, for those who want to learn more without committing more time than it takes to watch the original work.

What I wouldn’t want to see from the DVD industry, however, are damned double-dipping strategies. I know that the developers of Devil May Cry 3 and Ninja Gaiden didn’t originally plan for follow-up, upgraded releases of those games, but it irks me when a superior version of a product that I’ve already purchased gets released. (No complaints over remakes though, I’m anxiously waiting for Ninja Gaiden Sigma.)

What bothers me even more is when collector’s editions have some sort of content that’s exclusive and cannot be obtained in the regular edition.  The upcoming collector’s edition of Spider-Man 3 for PS3 has an exclusive game mode where the player can assume the role of the new goblin. Now if this feature was exclusive to all the PS3 versions of the game, it may be understandable since Spider-Man 3 is a Sony Picture and the extra new goblin game mode uses the Sixaxis controller. But no, if you want new goblin, you gotta pony up the extra $10.

Another upcoming game on my radar is The Darkness, currently under development by Starbreeze Studios. Exclusive to the PS3 version will be extra interviews and other documentary material. The reason for the extra material to be PS3 exclusive is supposedly because of the extra space afforded by the Blu-ray Disc media. I don’t have a big problem with this because the extra content on PS3 will not come at a higher price point, though I don’t see why it couldn’t be put on a second disc for the Xbox 360 version. As an aside, I really enjoyed the developer commentary that Starbreeze did for the Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, and hope that’s something they’ll do again.

Collector’s editions are here to stay, though I wish that more of the industry would follow the example set by God of War I and II. I’m crossing my fingers that God of War III doesn’t get a collector’s edition.