A classic formula but not much else..
GamePlay:
Well this is one of the games strengths though unfortunately thats not saying too much, the gameplay is based around the classic space trading formula with most things you could wish for included. There are many different ships, upgradable, equipable etc., different ways to approach the game, professions etc and there are even plenty of quest elements, though even the largest of these is fairly short.
The main problems with the gameplay is its stale! and theres not really any plot/storyline to keep you interested. Its too easy! I very quickly found ways of making buckets of cash e.g. within the Sol system the are goods you can trade between planets the net you a low but reasonable profit but with virtually no overheads, you can quite cheaply hire additional craft to carry goods for you and within an hour you have a fleet of trading ships and all the money you need.
Graphics:
The graphics dont suck, they get the job done but for the price of the game there should be so much more. It looks like the whole game runs in quicktime for goodness sake. No eye candy here.
Sound:
There isn't really much to say, no music and functional but bare sound effects. The sort of sound effects you might expect from a good quality web game, not a comercial game.
Value:
They overcharge for this game plain and simple, if they halved the price it would still be a too much concidering the gems you can get on buget re-releases.
Tilt:
The game comes off a little harshly given its shortcommings, if you havent played a game of this type before you might be pleasently surprised by the scope and addictive nature of the gameplay. On the whole the title isn't that bad really, its just not in the same league as most other titles.
This is more the sort of game I would expect to pick as freeware or cheap shareware. I have nothing against shareware, one of my favourite games of all time is exile 3 from spidweb, but this game just doesn't grip me.