I enjoy a challenge, but after countless games, I've only beaten the game on easy once, and it involved more luck than skill. The game itself is loads of fun. The battle system is great, but you really have to pause it every few seconds or you'll be losing crewmen left and right. I also love all the ship upgrades and random events. The problem for me is that it was just too hard to enjoy. If an average gamer can't beat it on easy, the devs don't know what "easy" is supposed to mean. Normal difficulty is just brutal. It seems to me the strategy is more figuring out how to unlock better ships than actually playing the game, and most of the ship unlocks are luck-based (you of course have to know the secret choices to make once you get lucky enough to encounter a ship unlocking event). All in all it's probably worth the price, as it is fun and inexpensive. Just know you are in for a world of pain.
