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The
basic idea of the game is quite simple. Two teams of four players compete in an
enclosed circular arena and the goal is a rotating drum that floats in the
centre of the playing area. The ball is an orange glowing globe of plasma,
which is launched into the arena where the players must battle for control.
Once in possession, the ball must be taken to the outer barriers of the arena
and connected to one of the power points, which will change the plasmas color
from orange to your teams colors, either blue or green. If the ball is not
charged correctly and launched into the scoring drum, an own goal will be
awarded.
Grabbing the ball and tearing across the court towards the
goal, will only result in losing possession, therefore each player has the
ability to use two passing moves, one short, for a close contact pass and the
other being a long distance pass.
Once in shooting range, you must
throw the plasma ball into the rotating drum to score a goal. Points are
awarded from where the scoring shot was taken, as the court is segmented into
varying point zones. If you score from the outer regions of the arena, then 3
points are awarded, a mid range goal results in 2 points gained and a close
range 'dunk' wins 1 point. The highest scoring team at the end of time will win
the game.
On the defensive side, your team has four possible means to
retrieve possession. You can collect the ball in mid-flight of a passing
manoeuvre, perform a sliding tackle on the player holding the ball, or you can
wait until your opponent shoots for goal, then use up your one chance to
manually close the goal by hitting a button, and if your timing is correct, the
ball will bounce off the goal and fall back into play. Your fourth option is to
kick the shit out of your rivals, as apart from the basic gameplay, there are
absolutely no fouling rules. Players can kick, punch and charge opponents at
any time in the game as the only objective is to get the ball and score. During
gameplay the baying crowd will indeterminately throw power ups on the court,
which when collected will boost the players speed, energy and power punch
capability.
There are many options available in Riot, which include a
selection of playing modes of full leagues and knockout tournaments. As a
single player game, you can challenge the computer controlled team, or invite a
mate around to play against. Four players can battle against the CPU or how
about an eight player contest using the multi-tap, where it is possible to
really develope tactical play, assigning players to aggressively defend, while
you concentrate on scoring goals. A knockout competition may be played over 2,
3 or 4 rounds involving up to 16 players.
So how does Riot play? My
first thoughts were which audience this game is exactly aimed for. Riot plays
very similar to a high quality basketball game, passing the ball around the
court which an eventual aim to throw it at a central target with points awarded
for the distance thrown. But this creates a problem. If your a basketball
fanatic, would you want to see your sport desecrated in this fashion? If you
don't enjoy basketball games then is it dissimilar enough to draw you in?
Well,
it does play similar to NBA Jam Extreme with it's turbo power-up moves and the
'no-rules' rough play but there are enough new features and fresh ideas to
separate the two games. To be honest I don't really go a bundle on basketball
games but I found this game a 'riot'. The closed in arena provides such frantic
non-stop action that I had to keep pausing the game to rest my tiring fingers
and that has never happened since the time I attempted the world weightlifting
record in Us Gold's Olympic Games.
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