I'm supposed to review based on "in-game" experience - but when they sell you a game that doesn't load, there isn't much of a choice.
Multiplayer (or lack of): Even if you find another player, there is no chat and no trading, so forget about doing anything with friends. Economy: There is no real economy. NPCs buy and sell the same limited set of materials, leaving you realizing that the game doesn't really have the grand scale it would suggest. Tech: Tech upgrades are one-dimensional and frustrating to deal with when you need excess bag space for sub-combines. If Eve Online is the 'high-school' of space-tech games, this game is pre-kindergarten. Exploration: The gameplay is repetitive and quickly becomes unrewarding as you constantly fight inventory space. Exploration and immersiveness is absolutely destroyed by the fact there are beings and ships in literally every star system and planet in the galaxy. Story: You're given two general options. "The Path of the Atlas", or "Journey to the center of the galaxy". On the way, peripheral actors and events feel contrived and forced. For example: You arrive in a solar system and begin warping towards a planet. On the way you detect "hostile ship signals" which then forces you to drop out of warp and engage. Usually a 3v1 or more scenario which will repeatedly end in your demise. Why couldn't I just continue warping to the planet and avoid the encounter? Planetside, every "base" you encounter looks nearly identical and grants you the same small set of rewards as the last 6 dozen bases you already visited. Lack of randomness: Despite being in a galaxy of a quintillion stars, very little about this game is truely random. Here is *one* example: To upgrade your ship, you either buy a ship from an NPC for usually an inordinate amount of money, or you must discover a crashed ship. When you discover a crashed ship, the game will only present you with ships that have yourNumberOfSlots+2, so don't think you'll be going from the starter 12-slot ship to getting lucky and discovering a 36 slot ship. The game won't let that happen.
