Riviera: The Promised Land

"A great RPG! Fantastic!"

Introduction

I really don't know about this game's history except it was on another gaming device: WonderSwan Color version. Riviera: The Promised Land is an awesome game, with one thing that REALLY bugs me, its not free roaming! But still this game is good with a different moving system and a good Battle system

Story: 9/10

The gods sacrificed themselves to create Grim Angels, to save the world from Ragnarok. Ein the Grim Angel without wings(you) and Ledah has a mission to destroy Riviera because demons are everywhere and the source is Riviera, the Grim Angels are thinking Riviera is turning into a Utgard (hell). Ein later - after a battle - finds himself in Riviera and soon loves the place. Ein finds some girls who love him and then Ein goes on a quest to save Riviera.

Gameplay 9/10

The only serious big flaw is you can't walk around! Instead you have some options; MOVE mode where you have a direction to move to and press to the direction on the D-pad. And there's LOOK mode, where you can examine things and might find items, sometimes you have to pull a sword out of a rock, you get instructions to get it out (e.g press (a direction/A, etc) in (a number) of seconds). You'll get use to these 'puzzles'.

The battle system is good, basically choose a weapon and attack! Another flaw you can only take FOUR items with you!! It could be weapons, items, anything but only FOUR! You go into a battle with 3 members and yeah. You have an Overdrive bar (Final Fantasy?) from level 1, 2, 3. And you can use strong attacks with them, some attacks are SO strong the Overdrive bar shatters for the battle and can't be used. When you win you get a Rank, (S, A, B, etc) which depends on how much experience you gain. At the end of a Stage you get you total score.

Relationship system. There's a different system, there's - as i said before - girls that love Ein, they help and follow him, and to sometimes there's options of what you can say, these things affect the girl's reaction, they could a love heart above there head or a heart breaking in half. At the end of the stage it shows a picture of who Ein had been most kind to. And at the end of the whole GAME, it shows the person Ein likes the most, thats how you can have lots of multiple endings!

You can unlock stuff too, like all the expressions the make - and there are TONNES! - Also you can unlock all the voices the character makes and Images that have been shown through the game.

Graphics 9/10

Great graphics for the Gameboy Advance but there are some other games that are better, don't let that fool you though the graphics are still AWESOME. It's just the area you're in aren't always descriptive, your character sprites are though the wind blows your hair and cape and all that, its simply amazing but not perfect.

Sound 10/10

The character speaks!!! Before and after a battle! its awesome who the speak, but no voice acting - come on its just a GBA. The music is something I like too. The great music plus the speaking makes the music get a spot on 10!

Play time/Replay 10/10

You could play like 15+ and then still there are more things to unlock and different endings to see. So it has high replay ability but I hate the beginning tutorials.

Overall

Story 9/10: Great storyline
Gameplay: 9/10: A bit awkward with the moving but the good battle system and the relationship pushed it up
Graphics: 9/10: Amazing for the GBA but not perfect
Sound 10/10: Beautiful music and there's speech in it!!
Play time/Replay:10/10: There are tonnes of things to unlock!! Multiple endings to see, and it'll take like 15+ to finish it once.

Final Recommendation
Just buy it! It may seem awkward but you'll get use to it and see its great!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/05