"A unique gem from Atlus"

Atlus has always been famous for making great, obscure games that tragically don't sell well. Snowboard Kids and Disgaea are a couple examples. They're great games, but they didn't sell that well and are kind of hard to find. Riviera: The Promised Land is another game from Atlus that fits into this category.

Riviera is probably one of the most obscure RPGs out there, but it is also one of the best RPGs for the Game Boy Advance. The thing that makes it so obscure is that you can't move. That's right, you can not move. Instead, you switch from look mode to move mode. When you are in move mode, a list of choices are displayed on where you can go to, along with a direction. You press that direction to go that way. In look move, a list of things you can examine appears on the screen. However, you need something called TP, or trigger points, to examine these things. You get TP by winning battles. You also get them after completely a chapter. When you examine things, you'll usually find out some information or get an object, but there are also “dead” examines that are useless, so you have to know what areas are potent. Also, when you examine things, something might happen. If a character touches something hazardous, their max HP might go down 5%, so it's important to use proper judgment. A treasure chest might also be a trap, and you have to enter a button sequence before time runs out to get the object. So the better you are in battle, the more things you examine, and the more items you get. So getting good items doesn't make you good at battle, being good at battle gets you good items.

The combat is also very unique as well. Your HP is always full when you enter battle, and all of your characters are alive, regardless of what happened last battle, so there are no items to heal outside of battle. However, you can only have three characters out at a time. You also can't control where you hit. Certain attacks hit certain enemies, and some attacks are random. Also, let's talk about attacking. You can only bring four items into battle at a time, and each character has a different use for an item. One character might use a staff for attacking magic, another might use it for healing magic. To increase your stats, you have to use an item so many times until you get a skill with it, and that increases your stats at the end of battle. Once you get a new skill, you can use it once your overdrive bar gets high enough. All of these elements make this game very tactical.

The story line in this game is very good. Ein and Ledah are grim angels who are going to Riviera to protect it from demons. Rose is a talking cat who assists Ein. That's all I'm gong to say about the story. The story continues on nearly every screen. Every time you move ahead, the characters talk. The game also has a lot of charm. For example, when you take bread off a table, Ein says, “Sweet. Free bread.” It's the little things like this that make you want to push on in the game. You want to know what happens next.

The sounds and graphics are pretty good for the GBA. However, the backrounds are gorgeous. I also like the sound. There are short voice recordings when you first enter battle or when an enemy dies. The sound is also clear and doesn't sound scratchy at all.

Overall, Riviera is a very good game. Its charm and unique and complex battle system make this a game you can't just rush through, and in turn that'll make you take in everything great about it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/25/06