Talking cats and sharks? Check. Bizarre and cute things? Check. Ashamed to admit I love it? Check...
Although you control a crew of space pirates, you never actually do any pillaging and are more of treasure-hunting than killing and raping. The game revolves around an ancient mystery planet that supposedly houses incalculable wealth and there are many interesting twists as this story unfolds. The story is entertaining enough to keep you going and there are a great many side quests you can do also such as collecting Insectors (Pokemon-esque battle monsters) you can breed and train to fight in a tournament, a factory puzzle game to make items (which is very well done), semi-secret boss monsters to hunt down, and so forth.
The battle system is real-time with you controlling one character and the AI controlling your other two party members. You can pause at any time to use special attacks or potions and your teammates will offer suggestions for using their skills that you can quickly activate with a single button press. The computer does a pretty good job of controlling your team especially when you choose the option to allow them to automatically use recovery items and saving you from constantly pausing to use heal potions.
The tone of the game is fairly light and, in general, not too tough. The dungeons are all pretty sprawling but are little more than a bunch of tunnels with cleverly painted wall textures. The maps tend to be a lot of straight passages and 90 degree intersections which is a little bit lazy on the side of the designers, but I am willing to cede this point since the game is very fun all the same. Beware of the Gladius Towers though, that level is a definite exercise in sadism.
Rogue Galaxy is not Final Fantasy and never feels very epic or grand. It is RPG-Lite yet it is not a shallow game -- it has a lot of depth and character. A good game overall but do not expect a deep emotional experience or in depth character customization.