Just finished the main story line. Going to continue playing the sandbox of it for a while yet I figure. Great sound track, as almost everyone seems to say, which is actually a disappointment, as I was hoping there would be a soundtrack download with this. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, and the price of the game is by far low enough to justify not having that. Controls are easy, I did not use the tutorial, which likely added to my learning curve a little, but it was still pretty quick. While it is quite enjoyable and pretty immersive, it is not too serious of a game. I would almost put it as a third person shooter meets Gratuitous Space battles with a bit of RPG lite. I still have a few types of ships to play with (namely the really big ones) but so far the ships have mostly been fun, and you have a lot of options with how to run them, and how to play the game. I went straight up gun for hire, while my brother in law is going complete merchant. The trade system is some what similar to Mount and Blade style, with some illegal stuff in it, you actually can get in a little trouble for having them, but can make a mint on the smuggling market (not like Skyrim where skooma is supposedly some big bad drug, that no one cares if you have). Also the markets have things happen like celebrations, market gluts, and trade embargoes (which you can run the blockade while being shot at) which change prices dramatically. Pretty much the only game I have seen where I care to check the news now and again, and it is not all about your adventures. If you want to be outside the law, but smuggling is not your thing, you can be a pirate, and do missions for one of the pirate factions. Most of the downs sides are that it could do with more depth (characters, factions, etc). I would like it if stations actually changed hands, as they will come under siege, and there are wars. But then after some ships get blown up, everyone just goes home. I think a bit of Mount and Blade style border changes would add a lot. However, as a light fun game that just took up WAY too many of my hours lately, it is well worth the money.
