The game allows pressing SELECT to switch between third person and first person views. The camera automically adjusts to walking on walls/ceilings, which can be disorienting at first but I quickly got used to it. Considering how old the game and its console is, the graphics still look excellent in my opinion and give a very immersive cyberpunk action experience, this is likely also related to the game being based on a manga and not attempting to look realistic. The game runs very smoothly, never stuttering or dropping frames. The gameplay is based on fast-paced movement, this is no Call of Duty.
I have only played this game up to mission 6, but I can already tell you the missions have some varied fast-paced gameplay, from open level exploration missions to chases and timed missions. You can't save during a mission, only between missions. Every mission ends with a bossfight, so don't get caught with not enough health! If you get battered, you can pick up energy packs to regain some of it.
The game's plot is told mostly by the cutscenes and tells some stuff about the GitS universe that's not mentioned in the anime and manga. It involves Section 9 fighting a "human liberation" front that wants to liberate humanity from cyborgs, and guess who Motoko Kusanagi, one of the main members of Section 9, is? In most GitS media, Motoko is the main character, but in this game you sadly don't play as Motoko, but as an unnamed new member ("rookie") of Section 9. Don't worry, Motoko and other Section 9 members get a lot of screentime in the cutscenes! All cutscenes can be skipped by pressing START (Game Freak, take notes), but they fit the flow of the game perfectly, don't interrupt the action and this is one of the games where I don't skip cutscenes, not to mention they're the closest GitS animation to the manga until now. A new GitS anime is coming out in July and it's going to be the closest one to the manga yet, I don't think it'll top SAC as I liked SAC's plot more than the manga's plot but it looks like it will still be a great anime and I'm excited for it!
If you're a Ghost in the Shell fan, you'll definitely enjoy this game! If you're not that into GitS, but you like fast-paced third-person or even first-person shooters like Doom or Half-Life, you'll probably like this game too, although I won't be surprised if its Y2K cyberpunk atmosphere eventually gets you into GitS :-) For a licensed game, its gameplay feels very innovative and even today I think there aren't many games with similar gameplay. The game's difficulty is at the perfect level in my opinion, not too easy but definitely not Nintendo hard.
I hope I helped with installing PS1 games on the PSP! In part 2, I'm going to cover installing multiple-track games like Doom.