A tough one to rate, but in the end it was clever enough to make the cut.
Contact is full of opposites. Some parts of the game are downright droll, seemingly ripped from any generic RPG. It's the beginning and the end of this game that make it worth it.
Where the game gets its mark is in its clever and unique overarching concepts. In Contact, you play yourself, a person with a DS, who can take control of someone inside 'another world'. Only the professor knows that you are actually controlling this character until the end. Essentially this works just like another other RPG as far as control goes.
But while this concept is clever enough for me to recommend the game (it's worth it for the ending!), the game can get a bit boring in the middle, with a very generic setup and sub-story. The game can also be quite hard when it comes to learning the controls, but this is where the internet is useful.
Give it a go, and push through the middle, because the ending and overarching story is worth it.