I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay because it was change of pace from hardcore, ultra difficult action titles like Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry. You control Zack as you cut down countless numbers of enemies using your sword and materia. Limit breaks make a return as DMV which is like a slot machine. If you get all 3 faces of a particular character, you can perform Zack's limit breaks, level up Zack, gain status effects, and level up your materia. The DMV make Zack pretty much invincible, but at least you feel like you are powerful instead of some weak chump getting beat on by minions (Gaiden anyone?) The camera angles are awesome because you can see yourself and the enemies at all times. I never had any problem escaping attacks because I could see them and the roll button helps your dodge almost anything. Boss battles are intense and satisfying because while they are overpowered and dangerous, you have enough firepower in your arsenal to handle them.
The graphics are top notch. This game didn't need FMV cut scenes even on PSP. I was very impressed by how beautiful everything looked. Some games can't even pull off that level of detail on the PS2 or PS3. The FMV looked just like FFVII: Advent Children. I seriously didn't expect it to look that good on PSP because it is a portable console. Playing pretty games like FFVII confirm that I made a good decision buying a PSP instead of a DS.
The game has flaws though. FFVII characters are very endearing, but you don't get much back story about any character. Many chances to find out more about important characters are squandered. For example, Zack returns to his village once but he doesn't meet his family. We don't find out anything concerning Zack's childhood or how he became a S.O.L.D.I.E.R. Also Sephiroth disappears for about 70% of the game only to return at the end as some raving psycho lunatic. His reasons for losing his marbles barely make any sense in the context of the new characters and story line elements. Furthermore, most of the new characters are flat and don't cut it. I didn't like Genesis rambling every two seconds about the same thing over and over again. The other S.O.L.D.I.E.R.S and characters you interact with using the email system are useless. You don't get anything from interacting with them unlike the U.M.N. email system in the first Xenosaga. Finally, Zack's interactions with Aeris were a disappointment. You barely spend anytime with her and when you do, she has you running around on silly fetch quests that have nothing to do with the storyline or your relationship. I was hoping they would explain more about her past, but I guess they are going to milk FFVII fans with an Aeris game.
The mission system left more to be desired. Square decided to spam canned game environments for almost every mission you do. It is like they wanted you to be bored out of your mind trying to slay monsters for extra items that don't even affect the storyline or gameplay. All of the missions are search and destroy. You never destroy anything cool though. Most of the time you are just destroying overpowered minions. Why couldn't they give me the choice to assassinate some enemy of Shinra in a rival nation or lead a rebel alliance against dirty corporations? Square's lack of choice isn't fair to a gamer like me who is used to playing hits like Fable or KOTOR.
