Riviera’s storyline closely resembles Norse and Greek mythology. Riviera’s story takes place in the “Divine” world, where the sky is filled with islands in the sky. In the islands exist Utgard, a land filled with demons, and Asgard, a realm filled with Gods. Legend and folklore remembers the world of Asgard being invaded by Utgard’s demons, and this holy war was known as Ragnorok. Asgard lacked the ability to defend itself, and the demons easily laid claim to the land. In desperation the Gods broke an ancient covenant and created a team known as Grim Angels.

These angels were powerful warriors with black wings and each of them wielded a sacred weapon. The group of these weapons were known as Diviners, and for a Grim Angel to claim theirs they need to sacrifice a piece of themselves. Alongside the Gods they marched into the battle and defeated the enemies, eradicating them from their land, up to the point where the Utgard rulers were dispatched, reclaiming Asgard. Sadly the Gods of Asgard had used up most of their abilities creating the Grim Angels, and began to disappear, but before they left they sent their remaining power to Riviera. This island was floating at the edge of their Divine world. With the powers of the Gods protected by Sprites (which happen to be the human inhabitants of Riviera) the Gods faded away.

A thousand years have since past, and we fall into the character of Ein. Ein happens to be the most inexperienced Grim Angel, and as such has not been fully bathed in the immense depth of their lore. He, along with Rose, a cat, and Ledah, his partner ventures forth with orders from Hector, one of the Seven Magi. Their goal is to enter Riviera and start the retribution, and so Ein and his group venture towards the Heaven’s Gate.

The game play is quite interesting. You have your choice of up to five characters for battle, but the catch is you can only use three at a time. Once you characters are chosen, and you have begun battle, you are stuck with them. The main character Ein collects a group of girls, and your actions outside of battles will affect your relationships with them. Depending on whom you build your strongest relationship with, your ending will change.

Each item is the lifeblood of a character, and it is how they gain levels after mastering their attacks. Each item requires a different set of uses before they can be mastered, which occurs only at the end of a battle. Once the items are mastered future battles that the weapons are brought into, they will have a special Over Drive attack to use. You fill the gauge by attacking or being attacked, and then release the energy in a glorious attack. You will also only have 15 spots to hold onto items, so it will be a challenge to manage all of your items you find. You will also be unable to buy any of the weapons in the game, and must either find them in chests, take them from defeated enemies, or talk to the villagers to gain them.

In battle, you can only bring in four items at a time. This means for the three characters you will be using, you have to choose the best items for them to use. The items will range from either an offensive weapon to a defensive weapon. One item may be an offensive weapon to one character, and may be defensive to another. One item may attack a single character, while to another it may attack all of the enemies. Also if the character does not know how to use the item, they may just throw it at the enemy. Each item additionally has a limited durability, so multiple items of the same type cannot be combined together, which oddly includes potions. This will have you on a constant quest to try and collect as many items as you can, to create the most affective combination. You may even find your favourite weapons destroyed after using them too frequently, so it is best to save them for the sticky situations.

There is also a practice mode, which will allow you to fight against defeated enemies. Once you defeat enemies in this mode, you are also guaranteed an item, so if you are running low, this is a perfect way to replenish them. Most of the items gained in the early stages will be items that affect the enemy, like sleeping ivy, and depending on your fighting styles, you may not end up using them to reduce the amount of turns you will use.

In each battle you are gauged with how well you performed, and this is based on how many points you have received. You receive the points from the following categories. Win, which you get for the value of the enemies that you defeat. Time, which will be the length of the battle, and how long it took for you to make your choices for attacks. Then there are the Finish points. The higher the score, the higher the rank you will receive. The rank ranges from C, B, A, to S. The higher the rank, the more Look Points you will get, which allows you to interact with the environment.

When it comes to Riviera’s graphics, the backgrounds are the best I have ever seen for the Gameboy Advance. Everything is neatly crafted to give a warm feeling. Some of the backgrounds are used several times, but the overall delivery is fantastic. It is quite easy to spot what you are supposed to interact with as well, so it is easy to find why the main characters have found it in the first place. Even though the items are easy to spot, they do still feel at home with their environment. There are also section dividers in the game, when introducing new characters, and each of these frames is beautiful as well. You will even be able to collect them all and view them later to continue appreciating them long after you have moved beyond that part of the story.

Interacting with the environment will allow you to get more battle items, communicate with your teammates to make them happier with you, or increase/decrease your current abilities and strength. You may also find yourself investigating an area or treasure chest, and you will find out that it is a trap. For these situations you will need to either line up a moving arrow with a safe zone, press a single button several times in the allotted time, press a series of buttons in a set time, or hit arrows as a timing bar scrolls across the screen. With such verity it is always pleasurable experience when you run into them. Not everything will require accumulated look points to active, but it is in your best interests to try and interact with everything. Sometimes it will be the only way for you to continue on in the adventure.