Remember that Bioshock statue replacement program I mentioned a while back? Yeah, neither did I. Truth is, the little broken pinkie on my first statue didn’t bother me all that much. I was lucky in that the damage was rather inconspicuous, as opposed to the many who had their drill bits snap.

Nevertheless, a nice brown box arrived today and with it, a brand spanking new Big Daddy statue, and the promised Bioshock Art Book entitled “Breaking The Mold“.

A couple of things worth mentioning straight away: I was expecting an empty shipping box, not a new statue right off the bat. This was supposed to be a replacement program remember? Perhaps they’ve just decided to toss that out the window because, hell, it’s been so long. And really, what are they going to do with a bunch of broken statues? Saves them the headache. There is nothing else included- no return directions, no other documentation, nada. I’ll have to check the 2K site to see just what the deal is.

So, what about the Big Daddy? Well, it’s not broken, as expected. It actually comes in its own little styrofoam transport now, which is at least, like 1000% safer than the Collector’s Edition package ever was. Aside from that, it is identical in every fashion. It’s a little more vibrant in color, but that’s due to dust on the oldie more than anything else. For the time being, I, sounding like a bad 80’s sitcom, have Two Big Daddies.

The Art Book you see, was meant to be an act of extremely good faith on 2K’s part. The initial plan was that, while we were waiting for our statues to arrive, we’d have something else to tide us over. I don’t quite know the full story behind this book, meaning, if this was actually created for purchase in addition to being given away to the replacees. [[updated! see comments for clarification from Elizabeth of 2k Games]] The lack of a barcode says no, but the fact that Ken Levine wrote a forward to this which makes no mentions of the replacement program says maybe.

Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually sold this somewhere for $15; the quality is actually that good. Surprising, but it’s true. The printing is really high quality, on very nice paper stock. It’s rather substantial as well, no page numbers and I’m bad at estimating, but I’d guess there’s a good 50 pages. The art itself is fascinating as it ought to be. Bioshock packs better production values than most movies. If you’ve never played the game, I’m not pulling your chain. The art inside is reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings “Art of…” books. Full of conceptual sketches, color comps, and to my delight– a few sculpted maquettes!

Bioshock remains one of the finest Xbox 360 titles I have played, and this whole ordeal only makes me think more highly of 2K, not less. Fat chance we’ll ever see them throw another “Collector’s Edition” with something cool our way though.