CIMA: The Enemy

"Required to play: One Gameboy Advance/SP, a CIMA: The Enemy cartridge, and a TON of patience."

There are many games out there, and while most like to "blend in with the crowd". But there are a few that like to "stand out". CIMA: The Enemy is one of these few titles, but like my review title states, originality isn't everything...

Story: 9/10

This is the first area that CIMA tries to differentiate from the norm. You play the story as Ark, a "gate guardian" in training. Your mission is to protect 14 passengers on a train, heading towards a new frontier. Of course, you won't be alone, you also have Ivy, a fellow trainee, and Jester, one of the "six stars", the elite gate guardians. What must you protect the passengers from? Indians? No. Stampedes? No. Or perhaps CIMA? Why of course! But the CIMA aren't your normal enemy. Rather than just simply gobbling up their victim, they feed on the victim's hope. How so? They trap their victims in a dungeon, and the victims try their best to escape, knowing that their just has to be an exit somewhere. Which is, hope, and the CIMA feed off of that. Early in the game, the train gets sucked into a gate and transported to the CIMA world. It's now up to you to get all of the passengers to the new frontier, safely. And when I say all of them, I mean ALL OF THEM. One of the very bad things that the game's storyline suffers is in every stage, the SAME EVENTS happen over and over. You'll notice them after playing a couple of stages.

Gameplay: 8/10

Like stated earlier, you MUST get all of the passengers safely through each of the dungeons. If even ONE of them dies, you get game over. This can prove to become a nuisance, but it adds to the game's difficulty, so it's not all so bad. The game boasts a new "active system" in which in ables you to control all of the passengers. Basically, you have to point and click to different spots in the dungeon for the passengers to go to. The problem with this is that your characters can't seem to get pass corners. In other words, if you happen to point to a room from a spot where you character may have to go around a corner, then your character will keep walking until the reached the corner then just continue walking in spot. You then look back to see that although most of the characters made it to the desired destination, there's still one or two people a couple of rooms back. The game also sports many puzzles, but their nothing too complicated or new. It's mostly just turning switches on and standing on panels to connect bridges. Another problem is that your characters can be quite the idiots in battles. Such as Ivy, who follows you through most of the game, and is nearly useless most of the time. Though she can be helpful sometimes, such as amusing you when you walk next to a wall then past a corner into another room, looking back to see that she is on the other side of the wall trying to get to you. The other time, is through the "majest system". The majesty system is basically an item creation system. Some enemies you defeat will drop a "majesty", which are items that use to create other items. You create the items through the passengers, asking them to make stuff for you. But, not anyone will make anything for you. Each passenger has "trust" in you. Though some of the character's trust will start in the negatives, as time passes, they will go up. For example, every time you protect them from a CIMA attack, their trust will raise by a point, but every time they are attacked by a CIMA, their trust will decline a point. There are also events that will raise or drop their trust. And as long as their trust is a positive number, they'll be willing to make items for you. All in all, the game is quite innovative and fun to play, but there are just so many problems that this could turn the game from fun to a chore sometimes.

Graphics: 9/10

The game's graphics are bright and colorful, and you play from a isometric view, so you'll be able to see what's going on around you. Each of the characters have a portrait of themselves at the side of their dialogue during the cut scenes. All in all, everything is easy to see and there's nothing you have to squint to look at.

Sound: 9/10

Nothing out of the ordinary, the music is pretty average for an RPG. Don't expect any breath-taking tracks, but it's nothing that makes you turn your GBA speakers off.

Replay Value: 6/10

Unless you just wanted to see the story unfold, there's not a single reason to replay this game. And seeing how it's a game that eats away at your patience, that just adds to the reason you shouldn't replay.

Buy Or Rent?

If you want to experience something fresh and original, than I suggest you pick up this game. But a fair warning to all buyers, make sure you have a TON OF PATIENCE. I know that I didn't, and this game drove me off the edge many times.

Overall: 8/10

This was a quality game and all, but it was just too frustrating at times, and the A.I. of your characters can be quite dumbfound sometimes. But this could be the start of a great series. Things could be vastly improved over the original...if there IS a sequel that is. But like I said, it's a quality game, but it could've been much better.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/04