One day I was looking around with a group of friends for something new to kill time on our GBA’s. We noticed this game on the shelf, kind of hidden behind other games. It was one of those games you could stare at for a long time and wonder if it would be any good, and never come to a conclusion. In a few gaming magazines I had noticed advertisements and was wondering how it played. The screens did no justice however. So when they proclaimed a “Revolutionary Gaming Experience” in CIMA: The Enemy, I was intrigued.
The main thing that held me back initially was another recent release on the GBA, Shining Soul. This title had little depth beyond “Hit A, A, A, A and repeat until game is beaten”. I couldn’t help but doubt for a while. They both looked very much alike, and kept me reluctant for quite a while. Eventually I picked it up though, and in the end it happened to be one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I’ve had with the GBA.
In CIMA: The Enemy, you play the role of Ark, an apprentice Gate Guardian, whose job is to defend civilians from CIMA - strange creatures from another world. You have a fellow guardian named Ivy who considers herself superior to you despite also being a rookie. Each of you train under the guidance of Jester, who is one of the Legendary Gate Guardians of the past when the CIMA first appeared. You are stationed on a train and your job is to defend all the passengers including the conductor. You first get aquainted with all the characters and learn about their past or present lifestyles, as well as their initial view of Gate Guardian and CIMA. All of a sudden an enormous gate appears and sucks the entire train into the unnamed realm where CIMA come from.
You’re floating aimlessly on a small meteor, and far in the distance is a train station on another one, but there is no track between the two. A teleporter appears and you learn it's a dungeon created by the CIMA. The CIMA feed off your “Life Force," or hope of survival. They wish for you to try your hardest and fail miserably.
At one point a character asks why there are exits if they want you to die. The reply is, if there is no exit then there is no hope, and they gain nothing. Every Dungeon you complete grants you one more piece of the track and the CIMA's plan is to allow you to believe you can reach the end with all your hope and prayers only to be slain at the exit at your emotional peak. There are some strange pieces to the puzzle too, such as what the Singularity is, and the hidden reason behind their need for "Life Force."
Upon completion of the first dungeon, you get separated from all of the other passengers, and your mission is to complete each dungeon in order to save a passenger and add another piece to the track. Each dungeon contains a passenger from the train whom have certain talents needed to complete later levels. They possess abilities such as the Blacksmith, able to upgrade your weapons and armor. The Physicians can heal abnormal statuses like Poison and status drain effects. The Physicians’ two children are light enough to traverse weak bridges and are excellent treasure hunters. Abilities like this are crucial, making every member integral to the story and to the game.
Your other objective is to gain the trust of every member. Initially, many don’t know what to think of two teenagers with no real life training having the responsibility to protect and save their lives from danger. The more trust they have, the cheaper the cost for the items they can craft, such as healing potions. Certain plot points affect trust between characters, but their trust normally goes up when you defend and slay CIMA in their presence. If you abandon them and let them get attacked, their trust falters. If any character in your party dies, the game is over.
The controls are quite simple and easy to get used to; it’s the multitasking that makes this game difficult. The menus and stats are easy to navigate and are conducted in a Shining Force manner with the cross shaped menus. The quick menu helps you get to items on the fly, keeping the game flow in tight situations. A simple press of the A button swings or fires your weapon, and if you charge the button for a brief moment you can unleash a stronger, more forceful blow capable of dealing damage to bosses or quickly disposing of groups of CIMA.
In a way it's more of a strategy game than an RPG, and is highly puzzle-based. In order to get the passengers to the exit, you must direct them using the R button and setting waypoints. You can only move your passengers in groups of up to 4 members. And you can choose to move them either by assigned group, individually, or have every group follow in numerical order. Many times you are required to split up your groups, such as have the children find treasure while one group stands on a bridge panel, thus allowing another group to cross and stand upon the panel on the other side keeping the bridge stable. Meanwhile, you have to keep an eye out for CIMA attacks, pitfalls, hidden switches, etc.
During this time you must defend the passenger from harm as well, since not all of them can defend themselves and if they take damage they will lose their trust in you. The levels are well thought out and challenging. Most CIMA emerge from spawners that are easy to see, and some of them will break after you slay the many that come from them. Other CIMA hide themselves at ambush points for surprise attacks that you're normally not ready for and cause your party great harm.
The CIMA come in many forms as well. Some fly, others are huge and can block passages, and some even have ranged attacks which can cause a great deal of frustration.
Each dungeon has a unique, well designed landscape with impressive graphics. There are industrial complexes, frozen regions, rain forest settings and even a volcano area. Most of the dungeons consist of 5 levels. Many times characters fall for traps or are in difficult areas to reach causing you to backtrack or split into two separate parties allowing you to play as a different character. This adds a good amount of variety as each character you control has different weapon types, speeds and so forth. Most floors aren’t that large, so you are normally not navigating through an enormous maze. On the other hand it tends to be a trial and error type game, but since it saves by floors this isn’t too much of a hassle most of the time. In order to complete a dungeon you must find the key to the boss door, and then of course defeat the boss.
That is one of the first hurdles players have had a hard time overcoming. The bosses boost the challenge immensely, especially before you get the blacksmith. Many of the bosses are immense and cause major damage upon collision and generally have a powerful ranged attack or a bombardment of many small projectiles. You only have access to your quick menu during boss battles, allowing you to carry only 5 items, normally 4 potions and a Damage Boost item. The trick is to find their patterns and safe spots. Otherwise, you basically don’t have a chance. (Some bosses caused me so much frustration I nearly hurled my GBA into the wall a couple of times.) The combat is repetitive and easily gets stale. It is, sadly, pretty much the same as Shining Soul and there is no way to improve your combat skill throughout the game.
Fighting holds little reward since I rarely needed to make items beyond extra healing potions and speed ups allowing your entire party to clear a level quicker. And it’s not difficult getting the 4 components needed to make items either. The story is completely linear and there are no side quests. The only “extra” thing you can do is treasure hunt with the children and that normally isn’t very fruitful. Also it puts them at the risk of receiving great damage or dying, taking up time. On occasion I found rare accessories increasing my Speed of Defense, plus the Regen rings are helpful, though you get a few from normal treasure chests eventually. (Although they are listed in the manual, I never found or received a Strength boosting accessory, but didn’t exactly need one either.)
Another problem is sometimes you feel like you are guiding a bunch of utter fools through the levels. When you set the waypoints, they will follow them like dot to dots, and will not try to avoid corners, enemies, or any other obstacle, causing you to rework your cohesion. You can only direct one group at a time, unless you wish to reassign the entire party. In most cases that’s not an option, since generally it will only make things worse.
“This game sounds like crap, why the hell would I want to pick it up?” and “What kept you playing?” are questions you’re probably asking by now. The reason is simple really. The story is amazing throughout the whole game. No character you find is insignificant, and in time they will all grow into meaningful companions you will want to protect. You will want to know why the blacksmith initially hates you and what the troubles are between the couple soon to be married. There is great joy and fulfillment throughout this game. And it all works up to one incredible climax as more of the pieces fall into place for the CIMA’s existence and their Singularity Project. Not since Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger had I been so attached to my entire party in an RPG.
The music and tones are simple and recognizable for clues on certain events in the game. For example, when CIMA make sneak attacks, there is a distinct sound to give you a heads up. I really enjoyed the soundtrack once you reached the latter part of the game. Each tune fit perfectly with the scope and feeling of the climactic events that brought the story to a close.
So without the best gameplay, CIMA: The Enemy should hold you in for the long run to unravel the great plot and adventure. For those who are more into puzzle solving than fighting, this should have some appeal as well. It’s not the longest adventure, roughly 15 hours, so if you have a GBA and like any sort of RPGs, definitely try this one. It's tough at first, but it’s worth it in the end. I also believe this, being the first of this game type, can only lead to improvements of this sort in the future.
