I came into this genre pretty late but I'll never understand tank controls for this type of game. The dubbed VAs were so funny that it gets an extra star.
Despite being the weakest in the PS2 series story-wise, this was the game where they more or less figured out how to properly incorporate gun controls into 3rd person.
Combat is easily broken once you get the Costly Punch materia and one shot everything in the game but until that point it was great. Also had a super emotional climax that worked really well with the soundtrack and voice acting.
A sleeper favorite of mine. I love the POV character system of swapping between Hugo, Chris, and Geddoe, with Thomas as a minor member. Half of my online moniker comes from one of the villains of this game, Yuber.