A solid space strategy game with a surprising amount of depth.
Its far too easy to give up on this game quickly. The learning curve is pretty steep, and it could take upwards of two hours before you're managing your colonies, ship construction, diplomacy, tech tree, and domestic spending with a basic degree of mastery. However even during these two hours the game isn't particularly harsh so long as you're playing a low difficulty (and the game has many difficulty choices, so you're bound to find one that is perfect for you). Stick with it though, let the hours roll by, and you'll find yourself slowly mastering the game. Suddenly you'll be picking specific roles for your colonies and laying out general plans for their growth, all while pumping the majority of your early budget into social and technology projects. However even after 15 hours you'll find that you're nowhere near truly mastering this game.
The beauty, and difficulty, of this game stems from the amount of choice. Its far too easy for a new player to pick up the techs that take the least amount of time to develop, instead of focusing one thing or another. This game has obvious ties to the Sid Meier's civilization series, however unlike in that game the tech tree is laid out better and you won't find your militaristic society picking up the same techs as your peaceful, cultural society. You even have options such as building your own ships (which becomes more and more necessary as you play).
Basically: Gal Civ 2 is a great game. It has obvious flaws, and could use a some work, but even ignoring the fact that a small company made this game you find you're left with a great space strategy game.