The Life of Riley

The Life of Riley is an action-adventure role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. It follows the adventures of a young man named Riley and his five friends, as they journey through the underground. It is a prequel to Enigma.

The Game
The game's interface is accustomed and streamlined for the 3DS (i.e. touch screen makes decisions for abilities used and puzzles are solved with the touch screen), and designed differently for the Vita (also using the touch screen, but is slightly less streamlined). There are no random battles and transportation through cities and on the road is done either by train, mine cart (when in a mine) or car.

The world map and most dungeons use a stylized 3D appearance, as the main protagonist, Riley and his partners travel throughout the game. The world map is realistically proportioned, in contrast to other games that use this approach and uses a dynamic, controllable camera to swerve around the player (when prompted).

The gameplay of The Life of Riley uses a variation of the Conditional Turn Based System from Final Fantasy X. Battle strategies depend on the distance between the player and the enemy, the timing of the attack (e.g. if the attack is used directly after a partner's attack or as an immediate counter) and the speed and casting rate of the attack. Each character has a different skill and can perform Combos with others (combining two or more skills to create a super skill). Limit Breaks are present in the game and can only be used after the character unlocks their special Limit Break, which can be used after filling a special bar.

Occasionally, the game separates characters so only one is playable and when that happens, the game uses an action based system called Duel Mode (because this system is primarily used for one-on-one duels). The controls are simple, with each button assigned to the following commands: Attack, Guard (or Dodge), Jump and Special (which can change to Limit under the correct circumstances).

Protagonists

 * Riley - Riley is the main protagonist of the game. He fights bare-handed and is capable of charging his hands to inflict his enemies with different status ailments. Riley acts like a jerk towards other people and is especially hostile towards normal humans, as he is a mutant (and assumes that most humans are like the ones that he met); but can be caring and compassionate, especially towards his friends. He always tries to be serious when faced with a task and is fueled by his desire to be like the humans, as well as being faced with many events that serves as tests of character.


 * Simon - Simon is one of the main protagonists of the game and a former mercenary. His weapon of choice is a spiked club, that can cause earthquakes when Simon is angered. Simon meets Riley at the beginning of the game, on Riley's first official mission - and seeing Riley's potential firsthand as well as being convinced by his claims, Simon joins Riley to watch over him, as he sees Riley's inner anger can become a liability to himself and those around him.


 * Julia - Julia is one of the main protagonists of the game. Her weapon of choice is a pole that can change size when necessary, although she can also use a sub-machine gun later on in the game. Unlike the other five protagonists, Julia is a human and is initially against mutants, frightened by them and therefore wanting no part in whatever they do. This quickly changes when she meets the hostile Riley, being terrified by him to the point where she decides to save herself from his hatred by joining him in his quest (as well as trying to get over her phobia of mutants), much to his annoyance. Julia is one of Riley's potential love interests, despite Riley's (obvious) anger towards her.


 * Sonia - Sonia is one of the main protagonists of the game and one of Riley's potential love interests. Sonia's preferred weapons are a bladed fan and throwing knives which she can charge with electricity. She meets Riley at Luna (a ghost town), near a deserted mine, as Riley heads to the capital city of the Underground. She sees Julia (a human), with Riley and Simon and attacks her, engaging a one-on-one battle between the two. She joins the party after being convinced by Julia's skills.


 * David - David is one of the main protagonists of the game and is one of the most intelligent characters in the game. He wields a sword that can change elemental affinity with an incantation. David is normally bullied by Riley so that David can become tougher and more confident. He is met at the library of Fallen-Tode, a large city in the north-western section of the Underground. David is the polar opposite of Riley and is similar to Lynda, a girl who is even more intelligent than he is.


 * Lynda - Lynda is one of the main protagonists of the game and a potential love interest for Riley. Despite being the youngest character of the party, Lynda is the most intelligent character in the game and has advanced her intelligence and knowledge to the point where she is fully capable of casting magic, bending gravity, reading minds and using telekinesis. Lynda meets the party at a bar in Caspian, a city near a underground lake, and despite being taken aback by Riley's hostility and how unusual the majority of the party is (to her), she joins them to experience the underground life, having not been able to do so due to her constantly studying.

Antagonists

 * Lucas - Lucas, or Luke for short, is the main antagonist of the game and meets up with Riley several times throughout the game. Although Julius (the President) is the main focus of the game, Luke works behind the scenes, always making sure Riley never gets too far ahead and if his plans approach a snag (due to incompetence by others that work for him), he will personally make sure that his plans succeed.


 * Julius - Julius, or the President, is the focal antagonist of the game and is the main reason Riley and his friends are who they are. As a result of that, Riley decides to convince him down to cure his people and save them from further loss, showing him the error of his ways.

The Story

 * Main Article: The Life of Riley/Story

Synopsis
The game follows six characters affected by the world (around them)'s extreme pollution and driven underground as a result of being mutated and corrupted by it. They quest to venture throughout the vast underground and escape, heading to Old York to find the President - the man directly responsible for driving out all of the mutant humans. The six protagonists see the true horrors of what happened to their kin and it only fuels them to join the Underground and Old York, bringing their people back to their homeland and curing them of their disease.

This game is set approximately 150 years before Enigma and it is seen in the style of buildings and the surrounding area. Old York is based on mid-20th century New York, and is the main (and only) city that can be visited, as the entire Underground under Old York (which spans the area of the entire continent) is the main setting of the game. The Underground area, or more specifically the cities in it, are based on European (specifically Eastern Europe and Russia), Asian (cities like Singapore and Hanoi) and North American cities (such as Detroit or Chicago).