Riviera: The Promised Land

• Riviera's bizarre inventory and combat system (because this is a Sting game) basically works as follows: You can only select four items from your inventory to bring into each battle. Each character can use one of them on their turn. Characters have different levels of proficiency with different weapons and items, so it's not a bad idea to have one of each of their best items with you, but some items are worth switching in.

• Using weapons or items will usually teach characters a new skill with that item (based on their proficiency) after using it a certain number of times, visible above the stats. More importantly, this is how you level up. All your stat boosts come from mastering items. Items have limited uses, but early on the game gives you Practice Mode, in which you can fight battles that basically don't count - you don't expend item uses, you don't get drops - but you do get skills from them. This means that the difficulty curve of the game can be adjusted simply by how much you do or don't use Practice.

• Weapon attacks and ranges are keyed to each attack and character, so one sword's basic attack might be a slash that hits the enemy front row. If you want to hit an enemy in the back, you'll need to use a different weapon or item with that character, or use a different character. You don't get to choose targets.

• Seriously you'll never find most of the secrets or treasure if you don't use a guide of some sort. If that doesn't bother you, you can still beat the game without too much trouble.

• Rocks are your friend. Be friends with rocks.