Ok, so, it probably comes as no suprise but I'm a HUGE geek. I've also been avidly awaiting the release of Halo: Reach and have had one of the super fancy Legendary editions on pre-order for months. Having just got it home after going to the midnight launch, I indulged in what every geek indulges in when they buy something oh-so-fancy and expensive: the unboxing.
I documented the process with photos, apologies in advance if they suck, I was using my phone and I suck at photo taking in general, but if the photos don't do a good enough job of getting the point accross, let me tell you, this thing is off the hook! Most impressive special edition of any game ever, hands down, they put so much effort into it. Anyway, on with the show.
The box itself is pretty big (about the size of a milk crate, maybe a little higher), and is done up to look like a UNSC shipping crate. Right from the start the quality of the presentation is apparent, lots of work even just went into making the box look awesome and "in character".
Upon opening the box, theres two things. One is a letter explaining the contents of the shipping crate (written by the person shipping it, as if its a real shipment to a museum), the other is a small hard case of documentation detailing the last days of reach and the actions of Noble team (ie, the game). You can't see it in these photos but even the styrofoam the stuff is packed in is embossed with Halo Reach and UNSC logos, no effort spared indeed.
Once removing the top bit of styrofoam, the rest of the space in the box is filled with the plastic-wrapped statue of Noble Team. A pretty solidly built and epic center piece and quite freaking huge, bigger than I was expecting. Its going to look awesome sitting on my bookshelf next to my Halo 3 helmet :P
Now I got to that little black box that had the game itself inside. Its a hard box and the inside slides out like a drawer (even has a little handle on it to facilitate said sliding). The game itself is sitting there on the top, but after taking the game out I found there was a false bottom in the drawer. When you lift out the false bottom there is a satchel inside, made out as if its a secret satchel of top secret intelligence, with a letter explaining its importance.
Taking the satchel out its labelled with all sorts of military "Top Secret" and "Eyes only" type stuff. Ignoring the threats of lifetime imprisionment and death, I opened the satchel to see what was inside. Inside was a diary, the diary of Doctor Halsey, the person who created the Spartan program, detailing her work on the Spartans and what she did on Reach. And HOLY SHIT did they put a lot of effort into this thing. Its not just a book, its a real diary, full of notes, sketches, even loose random bits of paper that fall out as you flick through it. In the back was slotted a whole assorted of personal keepsakes, photos, newspaper clippings, sketches drawn on the back of restaurant menus (with coffee stains), medical reports on people undergoing the Spartan conversion and a whole slew of other stuff. They have put an amazing, AMAZING amount of work into just this diary alone, its so authentic it blew my mind, I've never seen something like this included with a game before. Looking forward to digging through it more thoroughly :D
Anyway, its now 2am and I am yet to actually play the game, so I think I might go do that. I dunno if anyone is geeking out about this stuff as much as me right now, but I'm blown away, awesome stuff :D
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