One of the best space simulators of all time.
Let's talk about the plot. You're a pilot from the 45th Volunteers from the Alliance, which faction requires immediate support, due to all 4 main planets of the Sol system are overrun, and the Alliance is losing it's manpower. It's a simple plot, but it gets more and more evolving, for a moment you actually feel you are IN the game.
Gameplay. It's the complete perfection when it comes to talk about space simulators: it's just perfect. Every ship has got it's own settings, like top speed, agility, acceleration, shield power, etc... so yeah, flying a ship is easy to learn and difficult to master. There are some ships with a "blind fire" option, which makes it's guns fire at the ship you're targetting, something similiar to auto-aim (you still have to aim at the enemy ship anyway.), however, this only works with fighters, torpedoes and torpedo launchers. It won't work on freighters, for example. Without the blind fire, you can still guide your aim by aiming your guns at the little square that is around the enemy fighter, pointing which direction you should fire at for a direct hit. Still, aiming is not very easy, as you have to FACE the direction you're gonna shoot at, unlike Freelancer. Still, if everything fails, you still have a large arsenal of missiles in your disposal. You can select any Alliance ship you want, but some ships are restricted to a certain rank, and in one of the missions you have to use the Shroud, an agile prototype fighter with blind fire and is capable of cloaking. You can also select any missile you want to bring for your mission, as you can change the ship's loadout. Now, I could talk about the game's gameplay for hours, so I just covered the most notable facts.
The graphics are quite good for a 2000 video game I must say. The nebulas look good and everything, the ships are well detailed and the weapon effects are intersting. Not much to mention.
The multiplayer is... I don't have any words. It is just amazing. You can either play co-op or deathmatch. If MSN Gaming Zone was still alive, I'm sure this game would still be alive. However, Gamespy is still hosting the Dreamcast multiplayer servers. I wish I had a Dreamcast now.
Overall, it's a GREAT space combat simulator that should be played by everyone.