The missions are a nice touch, as there is no story involved in them, period. They take a small amount of time to complete and have varying difficulties, making them the perfect distraction for a handheld game. The missions allow for a “pick-up and go” feature that gives the game insane replay value once the main 20 hour quest is played through to death. Think VR missions from Metal Gear and you got a good idea of what you are in for.
The music score is good, but as far as Final Fantasy scores go, it is just ho-hum. Without Nobuo Uematsu to assist, it seems like half of his songs have been remade, and the other half is a bunch of techno/punk that seems a bit out of place with the orchestra composed for FFVII. There are some classic tunes to be found here, but it doesn’t stack up to anything that came before it.
Graphically, the game seems to be a mixed bag. It’s pretty good as far as the PSP is concerned, but several textures and levels just seem, well, bland. Zach animates nicely, but several other characters seem to be doll heads attached to sticks. Don’t misunderstand, the graphics are good, but several areas just seem half assed.
