Customer Reviews

CIMA: The Enemy

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this game on a whim (I liked the cover -- do you ever do that?) and had mixed feelings over it for some time. I was used to games like Golden Sun, which involves a random battle system, so the idea of a CIMA "nest" that respawns every so often was a little odd to me at first. (CIMA is the general name for anything in the game that might attack you.)

I'll be honest -- I didn't finish it for a long time. My first playthrough was horrendous; I didn't understand the idea behind moving the characters you guard, and so more often than not someone would die on the way to the next safe point. I also didn't know how to put character abilities to use, and so skipped over some of the more important and helpful items in the game. I eventually gave up trying to beat it and started a new file, in which I paid more attention to the tutorial and got a lot more out of it.

Overall, I like this game and would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a new challenge. The battle system consists of little more than waving your sword and being creative with a variety of items, so it's really the moving of the characters where CIMA: The Enemy gets interesting.

You move a grand total of 14 characters with the R button, selecting three points (generally in a straight line or with 90-degree turns, as the CPUs are not intelligent and will walk smack into a wall and remain there if you don't guide them right) that they will follow along and stop at. Along the way you will need to defend them from CIMA, who spawn from "nests" along the way (or sometimes materialize from nowhere and try to eat you... swinging your sword as fast as you possibly can seems to help). If your characters take damage, they lose "trust", but if they see you defeat a CIMA, they gain trust.

You are given a series of dungeons to progress through and rescue characters in. A "rescue" usually involves a spasmodic run through the floor that the character is trapped on, swinging your sword rapidly and killing whatever CIMA get in the way as you search frantically for a switch. (Some CIMA control the locks and will unlock an area if you kill them, so keep that in mind.) Once you've saved the day, the character (usually) gains trust and joins the party. The end of the dungeon always has a boss to defeat, so equip extra potions before you go gallumphing off to unlock the big door.

Trust is an important factor in the game. If a character's trust level is positive, they will create items for you from "Majesties" that CIMA occasionally drop after being defeated. Different characters can synthesize different items or use varying amounts of Majesties when they create something, so try to gain everyone's trust early on in the game. (Not too early, though.)

Certain characters come more in handy than others. Halley and Emmy are MUCH more useful than, say, Ileyda or Claude. See, Halley and Emmy (and Philis, I think) are very good at finding treasure, and will occasionally turn up a piece of metal (used to upgrade armor or weapons) or an equippable item, so send them anywhere and everywhere that looks like a pointless addition to the dungeon. Keep in mind that weight is also an important part of the game -- some switches only activate when enough characters are standing on them, and only "light" characters can cross certain bridges.

Now, there are several offsetting features to this game:

- Most of the bosses are easy, following a set pattern that you can figure out and use to your advantage. However, there are a few bosses that will have you screaming and pulling your hair out after they've killed you for the 25th time. That coupled with the fact that some of the cutscenes are long and there's no real way to just skip them (and yes, you have to watch them every time) can drive you absolutely crazy in a fairly short time.

- As I mentioned before, the CPUs don't know how to avoid walls.

- You can't carry more than five items in your pocket at a time, and you can't re-equip anything during a boss fight. It makes sense, considering that if it were a real fight, you wouldn't have the time to do it, but it means that once you're out of items, you'd better be darn close to finishing off the boss.

- Most of the music gets tiring after a while.

It feels like I've mentioned all faults and no fun, so let me say this: where the game lacks, the characters fill in. Throughout the sixteen dungeons, the storyline progresses and the characters mature, often through amusing interactions. (I think there is one point where the wrong picture/name is displayed, so that's a little weird, but that's okay.)

I think I've covered most of what I intended so say, so... it's a good game, and I recommend it to anyone. Just be sure to stock up on patience before you play.

This game taste good for an act/rpg. Its about a line of humans taking on the race called the CIMA which are aliens. Take a role as Caracters Ark and Ivy. This game rocks and its has head scratching puzzles and it has a good replay value. buy it today.

Fun for a puzzle game, I find it hard to put down. That being said, I wish more attention had been paid to the action components of the game... sometimes the hit region on characters or enemies is a bit weird.

After playing many games, I believe this is one of the worst I have played. Although graphics are wonderful, the plot and game play are slightly poor. It may just be my thoughts, but I belive it was horrible.
I have belived that the game sounded fun and exciting, but the cover cruelly mislead me. I do not want to stop you from getting it if you want it, but I am just saying that it did disappoint me.

i just cant stop playing this game. the replay value is great. even though i already know what happens i still like to replay it. everythings great about this game. SO BUY IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!