Outdated review - this is the best MMORPG to date! Incredibly detailled, outstanding depth. The game to end all games.
Eve defies all genres, but a 'paralel unniverse' is as close a definition as I'll ever be able to find. As we speak there are currently players who have formed 2000-man strong alliances, and control in-game corporations complete with security details, mining operation, trading fleet and contruction fields - all operated and 'played' by real life individuals.
Eve has one server. That's it. All 19,000 simultaneous (yes!) players share one universe, and Eve, just like real life, doesn't hold you by the hand - instead it leaves you to your own means and it's up to you to make something out of it.
And God knows there is so much to do in Eve - so much in fact that there is no 'end game'. WoW it isn't - last time I checked, learning all the ingame skills would easily take 3 real-life years.
And again, unlike WoW, it has a brilliant community of mature individuals that will help you and guide you in-game. Most players I've met are 25+ years of age, so no l33t sp3ak in this game, thank you very much. A definitive plus in my book.
The Gamespot reviewer mistake was to look at one aspect of the game, solo mining, and stop there - expecting some form of immediate reward. But there is no 'sword of pawnag3' in EVE, and not everyone is a hero in a shining armour overnight. Again, just like real life. So when you get that ship upgrade, or that rumor on what sells in a region, it's all the more rewarding and exciting.
From the screenshots it's obvious he didn't go very far at all - just like in real life one wouldn't go very far with a pix axe and a rock. If he only had tried to team up with other players, he could have had a lot more fun (and a lot more in-game money!).
That's it for me. There's a free trial (no strings attached, no cc required) that I urge you to have a look at. First thing you should do is open a chat window and hit 'rookie help'. You'll be right at home.