This review is brought to you by Jake Leport of BCO Media.
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Not long ago, I got an early Christmas present from Rooster Teeth. That present being an early access copy of their much anticipated title, RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, based on their sensational online show, RWBY. It ties in with the law and story of the show, while also sharing some of its mobs and characters; This makes the game enjoyable and very satisfying to play if you are a fan. The game takes place somewhere between Volume 2 and 3 of the show. It guides the players, playing as members from the team RWBY, through the emerald forest and into Mountain Glenn, where an unknown party has reprogrammed the security network. But let’s not talk about that just yet — Spoilers!
The game itself is extremely well created, with amazing character models, scenery, and mechanics. The Grimm (Mobs) are well designed. Each features its own individual attacks and ways to counter them, making the game strategic and skill dependent, and allowing for a much more challenging and enjoyable experience. The characters are the same, each possessing their own different modes of attack which are based on their weapons and semblance (Special Ability). Special attacks are also well created for each of the characters, all harnessing their semblance from the show very well. All of them except for Yang, whose semblance is gained strength from attacks; This doesn’t seem to be shown in her special attacks, most likely due to the complexity in creating an attack from this idea. This means that her special attacks, unlike the other three, are not using her semblance. Nonetheless, her attacks are still awesome and harness her weapons well.
The storyline is easy to come to grips with if you previously watched the show, but if not you may have trouble at first. With enough time and good listening skills, you are more than likely going to get the general idea — Then again, it does have its own wiki page, too. It’s clear that a huge amount of storyline planning had been put into this game in order to make sure that it follows the law and order of the show’s story.
Glitches are another thing prominent at this stage in the game, but this is expected for an early access title. Examples of this would be sound files and what seems to be a sort of delay in playing them. This is especially true with enemies — Even if enemies are being attacked or stunned by the player, their attack sound effects will still play. Another glitch is gliding, where your character seems to glide at full speed along the floor without any animations; This specific problem seems to occur mostly with the Weiss character model. However, these issues would be rather easy to fix and because of how noticeable they are, I’m sure they’ll be addressed in a patch soon.
The playable characters are fairly limited at this point — you can only play as team RWBY — but this is, once again, going to be expected of an early access game. As the wiki does say, “More content, such as more playable characters, potentially including Team JNPR, might also be added as downloadable content.” meaning that the game could be expanded in the form of expansions, kind of like World of Warcraft. This would be a huge improvement to the game, due to the lack of playable characters and story line at this point. Although at the moment, the game does feature four amazing characters from team RWBY.
This could make things more varied, as a lot of the time you’ll play games with four people playing the same character. It’s annoying, but it does allow players freedom rather than being restricted by who they can play. However, it just doesn’t feel as real that way.
Another feature that could be great would be a player vs player mode. I understand why there isn’t one, but it could be something to think about. Sure, the development team only consists of five people, but surely the profit from the early access could help cover the cost of making a PVP system. If there was a PVP mode, I would suggest teams vs teams. This would be reminiscent of actual show during Volume 3, where teams battle each other to move up ranks.
At the time of writing this, the game is selling for £10.99 ($14.99) on steam, which I believe is way too much at the moment. However, there has been speculation that the game will increase in price with its completion in around 6-10 months. In other words, if you are interested in the game, get it now. The price is going to go up soon, and early access will prevent you from paying much more for the game.
In conclusion, RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is very well created and devised for only having a five man development team. The strong story line and mechanics make it worth buying if you are already a fan of RWBY. If you’re not, it is still lots of fun to play and well worth the money — at this point in time, at least. But it’s best to get it sooner than later, so you’re not stung with a heftier price upon its full release.