Even though this has been classified as a fighting game, it is certainly not for the Street Fighter, Tekken, or Soul Calibur crowd. The controls are really simple and you press the same buttons over and over again, but to learn the timing for each character's attacks to take advantage of the different terrain, makes the game much more interesting. I for one love the fighting system, as it is easy enough for those who aren't skilled in fighting games, but deep enough to make a challenge. Enough of that, let us begin.

The Story:

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, the story is by far the weakest part of the entire game. You would think that story would be the best part of the game coming from Square, yet that is not the case here. At times it felt like the characters were a bit too emo, including Squall, the most emo character in the Final Fantasy universe. Each of the X (get it X for 10 ha ha ha ha...) characters have loads of cut scene, which is awesome, but the story itself was just too bland even for my taste. I have no idea what Square was trying to do with the Cloud story, but it was just awful.

The Characters:

Heroes that fight for Cosmos.

• Warrior of Light (I)
• Firion (II)
• Onion Knight (III)
• Cecil (IV)
• Bartz (V)
• Terra (VI)
• Cloud (VII)
• Squall (VIII)
• Zidane (IX)
• Tidus (X)

The ones that sided with Chaos.

• Garland (I)
• The Emperor (II)
• Cloud of Darkness (III)
• Golbez (IV)
• Exdeath (V)
• Kefka (VI)
• Sephiroth (VII)
• Ultimecia (VIII)
• Kuja (IX)
• Jecht (X)

What more can you say about this cast? For those who haven't played a Final Fantasy game before VII, you must be wondering who all the other characters are. But guess what, you can learn their story by picking up all the remakes of the games.

The look, music and voices:

By far, one of the best looking PSP games since Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, which uses the same engine. The one thing that really bothered me at times was the camera, because at times it couldn't follow the actions. The pace of the battles was too fast and you find yourself getting stuck under a bridge, rock, or whatever that might be in the way.

As a longtime Final Fantasy fan, I was very pleased with the music for the game though. Using popular tracks from each game, modernizing some of them, and serving up one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a while. The voice acting for most of the characters was really nice. It was weird hearing Cecil and Terra talk for the first time. Again Squall, you are the main target for this, he is such an emo and annoying! Cloud is not any better either.

The RPG:

Even though the game has been classified as a fighting game, the RPG elements and replay value really shines. To the point where you will find yourself constantly leveling your characters in the Story mode. Character customization is huge and there is the unlockable galore of Cloud's Advent Children outfit. If you want to get the most of the game, you are required to do a lot of the old lather-rinse-repeat method. Along with the story mode, you have the arcade, vs., and local Wi-Fi mode to enjoy the game even further. Certainly the game is not to the technical depths of Street Fighter IV, but some players will find the game's repetition to be tedious.

My Take:

After playing the game for many, many hours, I have to say that it is certainly a fan service game. Without the Final Fantasy name attached to it, I am not sure that it would be even worth getting to begin with. The main thing I love about the game is the characters, music, and the RPG elements. The story is certainly lacking, but it is nice when you see Firion, Cecil, and Cloud in the same group together. A must own if you are a Final Fantasy fan.