A remake that still holds up to today's standards
Story: The 50 Year War has finally ended, but another war has just began- The War of the Lions. The two major generals of the previous war, once united by an alliance, now separated with one under the Black Lion crown, and the other under the White Lion crown. You play as Ramza Beoulve, the youngest son of the famous House of Beoulve, one of the most prestigious family of knights across the land. While on a mission to retrieve a hostage, you are thrown into the middle of the War of the Lions, where there are so many double-crosses that it'll make your head spin. At times, you might relate to Ramza and how he really tries to save people, but they won't listen to him, making you battle them. Some of the other major story characters are a little plain though(like Agrias, she's not bad, but gets very annoying by how she keeps reminding everyone that they need to save the princess). Delita is one character that breaks the mold as a young hero who knows how the world works, the social gap between nobles and commons, and how as much as he tries, he will always be a commoner in the eyes of the nobles(except Ramza). He turns into a 'master of puppets' of sorts using everyone, including his best friend Ramza(I won't go any further than that). While not fully evil, yet not fully good, Delita is a character that might become the favorite of many.
Graphics: The in-game visuals aren't a major change from its PSX counterpart, but Square did a good job smoothing a few parts out. There are still jags in the battle environment, like the trees, but everything else has been smoothed out. Square-Enix took a safe approach by making the cutscenes 2D and cell-shaded. There is a bit of lagging on the special moves(like rush and summoning), but it's not that long. You won't even notice it.
Sound: The orchestrated theme fits the setting of the game. The voice actors were pretty well-picked for the characters they played, especially Phil LaMarr(voices Ramza) and Gideon Emery(voices Balthier). The only voice I didn't find convincing was Ovelia's voice, which felt bland and unconvincing.
Gameplay: The game is standard for a strategy game, with a few Square-Enix touches to it. The learning curve is very steep, and with the tutorial not being automatic, you will be going back to the manual a few times. The AI is a big challenge on its own. I have to admit that it is more difficult than the AI in the Advance Wars series. After you get a hang of the gameplay, your problem with the AI will be lowered by a bit, but don't underestimate them, even if you have an all-powerful party.
Pros:
+ Great story-telling
+ Voice acting and soundtrack
+ In depth gameplay
+ Good character development
+ Bad game dialogue in the PSX version has been corrected in this one.
Cons:
- Steep learning curve
- Few lags(for less than one second)
Overall: With a pretty good cast of characters, excellent storyline, and a fun and challenging gameplay system, PSP owners cannot go wrong with picking this title up. It will last them for awhile. If you're a Final Fantasy fan waiting for the release of Crisis Core, or a strategy fan deciding to pick up another strategy game, anyone with a PSP should pick up this game.