Developer(s): Jordan Scott
Publisher(s): Rooster Teeth
Release Dates: December 1, 2015 (Steam, early access)
July 5, 2016 (PC)
October 13, 2016 (Mac OS X)
January 17, 2017 (Xbox One, PS4)
Genre(s): action, RPG, hack and slash
When I first heard about RWBY being made into a video game, I was excited naturally. What fan wouldn’t be overjoyed to see their favorite animated series in digital form. True, there have been a plenty of disappointments in this aspect. Transformers Prime: The Game is one example at how a horrific game can be made for a really awesome show. When the RWBY game was released for PC, naturally I was bummed. Thankfully, Rooster Teeth came through and the game was released for PSN and Xbox Live. RWBY Grimm Eclipse is a hack and slash action game based upon Rooster Teeth’s popular webs series. The game was created by Jordan Scott in honor of Rooster Teeth’s anniversary in 2014 who was hired by the company and picked up the game. All your favorite members of Team RWBY are here. The game’s story centers on a new threat that Ruby Rose and her friends must deal with. Use light and heavy attacks to create combos to take down hordes of Grimm in the area. As in the series, each character has unique abilities thus making for varying gameplay. Ruby is a balance type mixing heavy and light attacks with effective dodging. Weiss utilizes speed and precision, Blake evasive maneuvers, and Yang is, as we all know, the heavy hitter. Just like in the series, you have to option of using melee or ranged attacks. Again, each range attack is unique to whichever character is being used. Ruby can shoot distant targets, Weiss has homing projectiles, Blake rapid fire and Yang strong firepower. Grimm Eclipse also has RPG elements with each character gaining experience points to unlock new abilities. However, some abilities can only be unlocked when certain conditions are met. For example, to unlock the Level 3 ability of your weapon’s ranged attack, you must defeat Grimm by shooting them down. Melee attacks can be used to weaken them but the final blow must be a ranged shot in order for it to count. This mechanic illustrates the need to vary your attacks as well as help you understand your character and their weapon’s capabilities.
Grimm Eclipse nearly matches the series animation perfectly since the game was created using the Unity engine, which is the same software used for games developed for Nintendo, Playstation, Microsoft, PC and mobile devices. Looking at the graphical aspect of the game, it is hard to differentiate between game and series. Grimm Eclipse captures the essence of the environment, characters and Grimm fans know from the series in every detail. There are rough spots, however, but mostly due to gameplay. While there is the ability to dodge, this is not done smoothly. With gamers used to titles such as Darksiders, God of War and Bayonetta, dodging is essential to survival. I found it a bit of a nuisance not being able to cancel attacks in order to avoid enemy strikes. This is especially frustrating when shooting your weapon. Ruby is pushed back by her weapon when firing so this puts distance between her and the Grimm. However, this leaves her vulnerable to attacks from the side and she, as well as her comrades, can only dodge after a shot is fired rather than cancelling it out and saving themselves from harm. Then there’s the fixed camera issue. I would rather have the camera follow my character as they move about the screen. Not having that leads to awkward angles, leaving you unable to see attacking enemies. I am also reminded of a quirk I had with another game and that is sparse enemy sets. There are times when you do far more exploring than fighting. Noted, this does play out the RPG aspect of the game but not really worth it if it serves no real purpose. Other than that, the enemy set issues can be resolved by setting the game on higher difficulty which adds more Grimm for you to fight. Toss in the Team JNPR DLC pack to add more character variety and you got a pretty good action hack-slasher that hits the series on all notes and gives RWBY fans the very game that had hoped for. Plus, the game features the series’ voice cast so there you go.
RWBY Grimm Eclipse is given 3.75 out of 5.
