CIMA: The Enemy

"Where DID This Gem Come From?!"

As far as I’m concerned, CIMA: The Enemy is the sleeper hit of 2003; quite an accomplishment really when one considers just how many hit games released this past year came out of nowhere. CIMA however, seemingly came from nowhere as well; unlike other break out smashes like Viewtiful Joe or Beyond Good and Evil which come from well known developers (Capcom and Ubi Soft respectively), CIMA instead hails from the obscure camp of Natsume, a company known-if at all-only for the Harvest Moon series with a slew of other niche releases (Car Battler Joe, Pocky and Rocky among others) falling way below the collective gaming majority’s radar. In fact, it’s this very fact that makes CIMA such a disappointment; not that the game is bad (touché, it’s anything but), rather that because it originates from a company other than Nintendo, its viability is almost predetermined to result in failure. It’s a true shame really, because CIMA proves that it is the games that consumers do not purchase that are the exemplary ones; the releases gamers quickly dismiss as “don’t know, don’t care” that would instantly provide their fix on something other than the wealth of “garbage” which seeks to flood the market today even under the false guise of brand name developers.

Announced from seemingly nowhere at all, game catalogs began listing this game despite no one having any idea what it was. In time, gaming magazines reviewed it and praised it quite much, though the game would still not be out for some time. Then, just when it looked as if those interested could finally get CIMA, the publisher delayed it for a few weeks. In reality, however, this scenario is something to be expected; take for example just how difficult it was for me to obtain CIMA: the game finally shipped on November 21st and yet unlike a big Nintendo or Square release, stores in fact did not have it the next day. Heck, stores did not even have the game three days later. After calling and bugging for a game no store clerk had even heard of, I finally managed to find a copy of the game on day four and thus grabbed one of the scant three copies the store received. For the life of me, I can not even fathom why CIMA is such a low key release; why even the publisher itself felt there was no need to push the game all the way down to the shipping of it. CIMA is one of the most uniquely original and fun games to grace the world in some time. It harkens back to the most simple of puzzle games, while at the same time mixing in RPG elements, and tops it all off with the finishing touches magical enough to question just how different the Gameboy is from Nintendo’s Super Famicom (Super Nintendo).

Offering a far more expansive plot than anyone could even foresee, CIMA depicts a world whereby mutant creatures of another time and place seek to pillage and wreak havoc upon humanity. The monsters, whom the game’s title refers to, go about their evil ways not by horrific acts of violence and chaos, but rather via psychological trauma: the goal of the CIMA is to feed upon humans only after they have “fattened up” from enough energy created by false aspirations of hope. By creating gates to their world, the CIMA abduct people and make them run for their lives in deadly labyrinths all the while assuring there will be an exit waiting on at the very end. This ensures the victims will try their hardest to escape, only to reach a horrible demise. Factor in a mysterious organization which has the power to destroy the CIMA but not the ability to do so, and the game becomes all the more involving.

But enough talk about seemingly unimportant garbage; this game is just some generic RPG after all, right? Wrong. CIMA is anything but, instead offering players a mix of everything from Lemmings, The Lost Vikings, Zelda, and Lufia. To simplify the game to its core, the player controls the main character, Ark, and must defeat monsters in order to allow a group of new frontiersmen/women to reach safety and return to their own world. Via a simple action-RPG interface, players use button “A” to swing Ark’s sword (hold down for a brief moment to perform a charge attack) and the “B” button to open a Lufia-inspired item menu. The real fun though, starts with the “L” and “R” though: they give orders to the very individuals Ark must help out. Thus the introduction of a system most uncommon to the average RPG: by combining the dynamic of the Lemmings and Lost Vikings series, players must solve any number of puzzles and traps via a diverse variety of characters, all of whom have their own special abilities and thus whose presence most surely exists for a unique purpose. Whereas one character may excel at finding hidden treasure, another may specialize in defensive coverage to allow your team to reach safety. What if in order to reach your goal, the characters need to cross a chasm whose only accessibility is via a bridge triggered by a switch? What if in order to trigger this switch, one (or more) characters will need to stand on it, while at the same time dealing with the non stop onslaught of the CIMA? The solution almost always involves exploiting each character’s abilities in order to reach a common goal. Thus, a game that at first seemed like nothing more than a generic hack and slash dungeon crawler becomes a much more involved adventure with some pretty impressive puzzles. All this and I have not even broached more underlying details, such as the approval rating system.

Graphically, CIMA is wonderful. While it may not have the same level of detail and refinement as Camelot’s Golden Sun series, it basically represents the Super Famicom at the peak of its time. The best comparison would, in fact, be to the Lufia series, except presented in a ¾ perspective. Each area of the game is uniquely diverse and with its own terrain to give players a sense of change, rather than opting for the random similarity which typically populates most dungeon crawlers. The few but fantastic cinema scenes however, are quite impressive indeed.

For whatever reason, I am constantly amused by the superior quality of music which “sleeper” games tend to feature. CIMA offers catchier music than just about any other game played in recent months. The MIDI tracks can convey emotions, delight, excitement, or fear while at the same time having a simplistic composition to them that seeks to imbed in the player’s mind. To say that CIMA features a score on par with say, the Final Fantasy series, may be somewhat of an overstatement, but rest assured that unlike so many other games released, there will be very little desire to mute the sound.

Control wise, CIMA is just about perfect as well. Navigating the various menus and instructing the travelers could not be easier. Pushing Start opens the main menu, where numerous options can be selected, such as speaking to other characters, examining statistics, setting items, etc. Pushing the “L” or “R” buttons will open up a menu whereby players can instruct each character individually or as a collective group. The only real issue with the control is that far too often do those Ark seeks to defend get stuck behind a wall or edge and thus do not go where you want them to. While it is possible to assign up to three “go to” points in their line of travel (in an attempt to circumvent this problem), there are still too many instances when it occurs and thus the player may get a bit frustrated at times. Furthermore, the characters do not move nearly as fast as one would hope.

In the end, CIMA is a truly exemplary game that offers players an enjoyable time doing something they may not be use to: using might and mind. Instead of creating a generic hack and slash game, Natsume intelligently crafted one unlike any in recent memory. The sad part though, is that with the lack of knowledge about this release, it is likely to slip by under the radar and thus gamers looking for a new and creative holiday purchase may end up purchasing the mindless garbage which the public seems to crave.

Seeking to explain the review's title for a second, it is quite a mystery as to where CIMA *did* come from: Natsume is a Japanese developer, yet the only country to see CIMA's is the USA, with no other releases even planned. It is indeed rather shocking that a game as ''Japanese'' as CIMA would in fact be a priority somewhere else. Alas CIMA, you are a true enigma indeed.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/03