"A well-balanced game that runs into very few problems."

Riviera: The Promised Land was released by Atlus on the GameBoy Advance console. Atlus is known for their sweet RPGs that have slowly risen to store shelves. This was a game that I wanted to get, just because I remain a loyal customer to Atlus. Here's the breakdown.

Gameplay - 6/10
Riviera has a few playable characters which isn't a very wide choice. You can choose between one guy and four girls, which is a strong point of the game. I'm always a fan of an RPG where there are more female characters than male characters. Sadly enough, only two of them were detailed enough for my liking. All five characters have their unique weapon choices. Although different characters may be able to use a variety of weapons, only one character is good with that weapon. You are allowed to carry 15 usable items or weapons at a time. The sad thing is, you're only allowed to bring 4 into a battle, which makes it very tough to choose a party that will function well.

The battle system is turn-based. Each character gets an action based on the "Wait" trait. The lower the "wait" the more actions a character will get before an enemy action takes place. Actions are used for attacking or using an item. When you deal damage to an enemy, and vice-versa, your Overskill bar at the top of the screen increases. This bar is separated into three parts. In order for a character to use an overskill, that character must meet two requirements: 1) The weapon that they are using must be mastered, and 2) The overskill bar is at the proper place to use the overskill. So if an overskill is a level 2, then the overskill bar must be at or above the second part of the overskill bar.

Enemies work off the same system, but it's called rage. Whenever a turn passes, the rage bar goes down. Whenever you deal damage to an enemy, the rage bar increases. The more hits with a weapon causes the rage bar to go up higher and faster. When the rage bar reaches the top, the next enemy to act will perform an attack similar to an overskill. The only way to counter this is to attack with a strong weapon that hits once, but those are hard to come by.

The leveling system is really weird. You don't gain experience; you have to master weapons and items. When you master something, you'll gain stat bonuses. In order to master something, the characters must be compatible with it. If s/he is, little rectangular icons will appear under the name of the character when you use it. When you use the weapon/item, you gain a weapon EXP. You need to use it so that all the slots are filled, and then after the battle, you'll master the weapon, gaining a few stat points to go with it. If it wasn't for practice mode, this game would be in the pits. Practice mode allows characters to fight against a previously-fought enemy party. During practice mode, the endurance of the weapons and items that you use doesn't decrease. Usually, when you attack with a weapon or use an item, the endurance rate goes down by one point. When it reaches zero, it breaks (similar to Fire Emblem). Some weapons have only 1 endurance, but practice mode can make it so that it doesn't break and will allow you to master the weapon within a few battles.

The way you go through mazes and dungeons is really unique. You don't get free movement. Instead, you get search points. You are allowed to carry up to 16 search points. If you want to explore a room, you press the "A" button to switch to "Look Mode." During look mode, you can explore different things around the room, if there is any. Things that are red cost one search point to look at, while things that are white cost none. You gain search points after battles, depending on your rank. The higher the rank, the more search points are given. When you're in "Movement Mode" you press the directional button in the way in which you want to go. Movement is free, so it doesn't cost any search points. The gameplay of this game is very unique for an RPG.

Sound - 9/10
The sound actually isn't bad. The music is nicely placed into scenes and the voices of the characters are actually decent. Some of them aren't clear which makes it hard to figure out what the character is saying. As far as I know, the characters only talk during battle, but I always listen to my CD player whenever I'm playing a game.

Graphics - 8/10
Not to bad for a GBA game. Atlus probably took out some graphical goodness for the voice action, but I'm down with the graphics for Riviera.

Replay Value - 9/10
This game has different endings as far as I know. Atlus always makes games in which there are multiple endings. There might be around 5 endings for this game. There are unlockable extras available after you beat the game so it may be worthy of another playthrough. This game is fairly long and it might take a couple weeks to get through, but it's really fun.

Rent or Buy?
I'd rent it first and see if you like it. It's a different look for an RPG, but it's still fun to be playing. I bought it before I played it, just because I like games made by Atlus.

Conclusion --- 8 out of 10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/05