If you ran out of all other puzzle game options, go ahead and pick this up...
First, lets start with the core mechanics of the game, the puzzles. First they reward chaining matches together. The problem with this is you can really only strategically chain 3 sequential matches (not 3 at the same time, completely different than chaining) tops before stuff the came in from the sides will start matching on its own (if you are luckly). The more chains keep coming in from the side the more you will be rewarded, double and triple bonuses and even back to back turns. No one can really anticipate these chains, so when it happens to you great, but it wasn't because you were smart, and when it happens to the computer you probably will end up flipping off the screen.
The 'gravity' of the puzzle board does make strategic sense though. I enjoy realizing you can make every match two different ways by either clicking on the hex you want to match first then the hex to switch with, or clicking the hex to switch first then the hex you want to match. It matters because each way will pull hexes from a different direction onto the board. This turns the game into a defense driven game so you make sure you don't bring stuff onto the board that will help the computer.
The game does ramp up strategically once you have a few good add-ons to your ship that lets you take two or more turns in a row. Each add-on has a required cost and recharge time, which will have you searching for ways to match the correct colors to charge up your weapons. At this point the game can be very fun except for the fact the computer will start doing miracle chains on to to keep it a close battle... and that is annoying to the core.
Story wise, the game is driven like the Fire Emblem or Trauma Center series with stills of characters popping in and out of the frame and a little text being said. However what is different than the aforementioned games, all of these stills are stills. They will never change emotion in the least. The dialog is also very very lame. Each conversation usually involves little more than two exchanges from both sides before it pulls you out to the galaxy map again. Thus dialog is choppy and shallow. You never get to know anyone really, which is one of the reasons the characters are so poor.
Speaking of characters, you eventually get 6 crew mates. And Engineer, a Monk, a Researcher, a Miner, a Robot, and a Crafter. Each provides their own mini-game except the Monk that provides a way to avoid enemy encounters. All characters have very little to them, except one, but that involves a spoiler so I'll leave it out. The short of it is all act a certain way right off the bat and all further communication with them just reenforces what you already know. There is no exploring RPG wise with the characters. Heck you can't even talk to the outside of the missions anyhow, however, I'm thinking that is actually a good thing.
As you play puzzles and missions you will gain experience. Experience caps at level 50, however the game just keeps on going and going. If you were to collect all of the rumors (visiting moons with the researcher) and do all the missions you cap long before you find everything out. Every level you gain you get to put 5 points to one of the 4 different character stats that affects your weapons, shields, engineering and something else (red, blue, yellow, and green) - see that is how 'deep' the game pulls you in, despite how much you play it and try to get into it, it eventually is a very simple game revolving around matching colors, nothing more.
Back to leveling, the game is designed such that as you level up the bonuses get further and further between. Thus it is better to aways create a balanced character that does great in all areas, because the bonuses are better realized. This takes out the remaining chance for this game to have any depth to the characters.
All that is left is the ships and their components. This is highly customizable, but like I mentioned, if you make a ship of doom and pure awesomeness, if you are against a weak ship you will shread it in a few turns, if not you will have to pick apart the opponent only to have them do a super chain on you when you get too far ahead.
Puzzle types are simple enough, bejewed (basic fights), bejewed with a timer and a set of colors to match in order (leapgates), blackout ie. remove all the hexes possible (haggling), match as much as possible with only 3 hex types (mining), and making matches creates a new type of hex, three of those hexes makes a match toward the goal (crafting).
Which is the most annoying of those? Of course the leapgate puzzles. Sometimes the colors you need are ready to go, other times everything seems to come in from the sides spread too far apart. When that happens you just lose and try again. The puzzle resets and regenerates different every time, so a on the same difficulty type you can finish with 50% of the time remaining, other times you will still have 50% of the tiles to match when it runs out. As you get better and moving things around you can improve your success-rate to be sure, but it still isn't much fun to do.
The graphics and sound don't help much either, but I won't bag on the graphics much seeming if you are playing puzzle games you don't (or at least shouldn't) really care how it looks, as long as it is easy to do the puzzles and such. On those terms the graphics are fine. The sound though is a different story. The music is very limited and it is very easy to determine when the sound loops and restarts. It is annoying. There was only one or two scores in the game that got me interested and engaged in the gameplay, but then again, that is 25% of the songs in the game... I think you can see where I'm going with this...
Lastly, lets talk bugs. Sometimes when you click a menu item on the screen it won't register and instead sends your ship off to the far top-left of the screen. Sometimes when you finish all the matches in a leapgate puzzle the chaining of the hexes that follow will cause the timer to run out and you will still lose the puzzle. The game will freeze on you if you play a lot of puzzles back to back (I played 4 hours at a time twice and both sessions ended up with a freeze), the game saves often enough it wasn't a problem, but still.
As for annoyances, and not really bugs, every time you do anything you are going to get a 'loading' screen. Each lasts 2-3 seconds, but this game really adds those up. Before long I'm sure 10-25% of your time playing this game will be a loading screen. Wow.
In short, this game does little to draw interest from those not already engaged and happy with bejewed. The game is shallow enough that the 'RPG' and customizing elements don't really help the gameplay but rather get in the way of just playing for a high score. And the strategy of the gameplay always seems to be determined by what happans to come in from one of the sides rather than what is already on the board. I play a lot of puzzle games, but I'm sorry to say, this is one of the most average ones... really, many free flash games from the internet top this one. Save your money unless you are completely in need of a new average, at best, puzzle game.