CIMA: The Enemy

"The game that wasn't noticed..."

I was looking through the GBA racks at Gamestop a few months ago. I was hoping to find a new RPG to bolster my GBA collection. Then I noticed a box that was wedged at the back of the top shelf. It was called CIMA: The Enemy. I decided to give this strange-looking a game a try, figuring it must be just another bland RPG in the GBA lineup. I couldn't have been more wrong. CIMA has some of the most unique gameplay concepts I've ever seen on the GBA.

You play the role of a Gate Guardian trainee. The Gate Guardians watch over various gates that lead between the human world and the world of the CIMA. The CIMA are beings who feed from human emotion, primarily hope. As a trainee, your first assignment is to watch over a small group of settlers. The group of settlers is heading out to a new frontier via a passenger train. The train is sucked into the realm of the CIMA. Now, you must guide the entire group through the world of the CIMA and out of danger.

Most gamers would just take one look at the box of the game and just shrug it off as some cheesy RPG. However, CIMA is in a category of its own. Instead of hacking and slashing everything in sight, your main priority is guiding the fourteen settlers through the many dungeons of the CIMA realm. You must put the fourteen people into four parties, then use place markers to position where you want the people to go. Once the markers are in position, the characters move in Conga Line fashion to the markers. It may sound simple, but the actual process requires plenty of patience. You could accidentally place a marker too close to a corner or wall, and the characters will become stuck. Though it doesn't happen much after some practice, the basic goal of the game can test some gamer's patience.

CIMA offers a decent alternative when it comes to the individual characters. There are fourteen settlers that you must guide through the various levels. Each character has their own unique personality and abilities. You must spend time with each character in order to gain their trust strengthen emotional bonds.

Also, CIMA features the ''Active System'' which allows you to control each individual character. You need to utilize the individual characters' abilities in order to progress through the different dungeons. For example, you may have to stand on a switch in order to open a door. Some characters are too light, so you'll have to find a character who has the sufficient weight to keep the switch down. It's little puzzles like these that make CIMA great. The fourteen settlers make for a more complex gaming experience.

In make the gameplay great, the graphics were somewhat sacrificed. While CIMA doesn't have the most spectacular graphics for a GBA game, it does have graphics that are solid enough to make for a pleasurable gaming experience. The same can be said about the sound effects and music. There's nothing that really stands out when it comes to graphics and sound, but you'll be too busy focusing on puzzle solving to notice.

CIMA: The Enemy will likely end up as an unknown RPG for the GBA. This game is a far cry from the generic RPG that we've all become accustomed to. If you want to try something new and innovative, give this game a go if you can find it. It's worth looking into.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/02/04