"Riviera is for the niche RPG enthusiasts, but that crowd will be pleased"

Riviera is a bit of an oddity. It's part graphical and textual adventure, part RPG, and part Atlus' trademark Nippon Ichi-style strategy game. The storyline and voicework are extremely advanced for the Gameboy... er... Advance, which makes the game feel like it was designed for something like the Playstation 2 yet somehow compiled nicely on a handheld. On the whole, it's the most original and definitely the most complex RPG for the Gameboy Advance and is a testament to old-skool 2D gaming (which is making quite a comeback with Atlus USA's latest PS2 offerings).

Storyline

You are Ein, an angel (of sorts) sent by the Gods to put an end to the demonic uprising on Riviera, a mysterious land filled with inhabitants who are neither supporters of the demons or the Gods. Ein is quickly forced to battle with his conscience: Must he truly destroy an entire continent to put an end to Ragnarok? Are the Demons really "Demons"? Can any more insanely hot girls join his party? All this and more will be answered in a 30 hour epic adventure of... uh... epic proportions. Toss in some classic Hugo text adventure, a tad of dating sim, and few drops of completely off-the-wall battles and you have a game that simply isn't like anything before it. Not everything works as well as the developers must have intended, but the whole of the game seems to be fairly well constructed and it certainly gives a "console" feel to the handheld.

Graphics

Certainly the biggest highlight of Riviera is its graphics, which are astounding in literally every way imaginable. The 2D sprites have amazing fluidity of animation, and the anime portraits are every bit as good (and similar in style) to Disgaea for the Playstation 2. The special effects are literally Final Fantasy VII on a handheld, with all sorts of crazy explosions, ground exploding, giant flying summons of doom, and even a few crazy nonsensical attacks. Overall, this is definitely one of the finest examples of the GBA's amazing 2D engine. Unfortunately, the Gameboy Advance SP's washed-out screen light doesn't do the game much justice, but Riviera looks amazing on the Nintendo DS.

Sound

Not quite as good as the graphics, but very strong on its own. Riviera's music is typical RPG fare, though usually way more exciting than it needs to be. That said, I was impressed mostly with the incredible voice acting. Not only are the actors' voices fantastic, the clarity of the sound on the GBA is downright astonishing. While it's obvious that not everything is voice acted, it is nice to hear almost all the attacks and overdrives announced via very good voice acting.

Gameplay

Unfortunately, the most important category is Riviera's weakest link. Riviera tries so many new ideas that the player often feels overwhelmed with strange concepts that wind up not being all that important (or necessary). For example, using TP to "look" at objects is downright frustrating if you don't know what to do, and there's no strategy involved.

The battle system is hardly better, given that you can only bring FOUR items (weapons included) to any given battle. Even worse, you can't select which enemy you want to attack. Strange, annoying, and stupid. If it weren't for the interesting special effects and the occasionally strategic battle, the game would be far worse than it is.

Overall

In a way, you've got to ask yourself why exactly you play RPGs. If you like the presentation, artwork, and storyline aspects of RPGs this game is nearly flawless. If you're big into battle systems, this game is a few steps short of terrible. As it stands, I can't rate this game higher or lower than a 7.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/05