Short and frustrating
A good strategy game, IMHO, is one that introduces new elements to a battlefield which you must adapt and change tactics to meet the new threat. This game introduces new elements to each battle but each time it does, it destroys you, forcing you to reload and plan your strategy just for that event.
Battles don't "develop" in this game, they're scripted and unless your fleet is positioned correctly to deal with the next script cue, you find yourself wiped out. There really isn't any exploring or taking your time to develop and move your fleet around in this game. Why? Many of the missions introduce timers to accomplish an objective. If your fleet is not already ready to meet the new threat (introduced by a script cue) you lose and must restart. So, basically, the whole game is a process of playing each mission over and over again to figure out what is going to happen so you can plan your strategy accordingly and position your fleet properly for the next cue. Capital ships move so slowly that if they're not near the proper position when the next cue is introduced, it's mission restart. I don't like that at all.
One particularly frustrating misssion is when you must collect the core fragments from the destroyed Bentusi mothership. Your military advisor tells you to send probes to the 3 radiation clouds where a fragment is suspected to be found. Once you do this however, enemies jump in and start collecting the cores themselves. You're given a timer of five minutes to destroy their carrier before they they jump out and you lose. The only problem is.... it takes at least 3 minutes to move your scouts around the radiation field to locate them (The enemy is immune to the radiation damage) and another 15 minutes to move your capital ships into position to engage. As you can see, you don't have enough time to win. The only way to win this mission is to NOT send the probes, and (with your new-gained insight into where the enemy will jump into the system at from your previous failures) move your fleet to that position *before* you send the probes. Sending the probes or getting too close to the fragments triggers the enemy to jump in.
This is but only one example. Most of the missions are like this. Strategy, tactics? Take those and toss them out the window, this game is about learning the mission scripts. And that, to me, is neither a good game nor enjoyable.
I found myself saying "this is such **** many times when I played it. And any game that makes me say that gets deleted off my hardrive after completing it, never to be played again.
Took about 12-15 hours to finish the game, so... fortunately the frustration was blessedly short
Alz.