Contact isn't bad, it's just it's not really all that exceptional, either. The story barely makes any sense at all, combat is largely automated (like FF12, but with just one character instead of three), and there's only 6 real dungeons, nearly half of which lack real boss fights.
The end boss, though, was reasonably epic, making up for the nearly unforgivable mediocrity of the department store dungeon and military base dungeon.