Many people will not aprove the complete abcense of a singleplayer campaign, but all will have to agree its a great game
Graphics:
Sins of a solar empire its not a flashy game with that kind of graphics that you look and think "wow awesome", however the graphics in the game work perfectly and to the ones who like the genre will love sins of a solar empire presentation, the planets and ships are a delight for the space maniacs (I'm not a big fan of this setting but I have to say I was really surprised).
So in resume, even if your not a lover of space and sci-fi setting you will be very impressed with the feeling of being in space because it looks really big and the airships sometime are just an ant in the middle of a immense space with big planets, but I'm sure no one will look to the graphics in the game and say "Oh my dear god, this is the best looking game I have ever seen in my whole life".
Gameplay:
If i was to describe everything you can do in sins of a solar empire then I would probably write more than 100 pages of review, so I'll just point some good and unique (or better than seen previously) features.
For anyone waiting sins of a solar empire to be a fast paced rts game like C&C or starcraft you are completely wrong, combat its still an important feature in SOASE (I will call this to the game cause of the extense name), but it does not require your constant attention, its like you don't need to babysit the battles.
The balance between economic and military expansion its very well done by SOASE, in most RTS games when you expand your territory it results in more recourses available, but in this game when you conquer another planet its actually a drain before you have infrastructures and population in the planet.
The pirates are another interesting thing, they are controlled by the computer and are hostile to all other factions, but the cool thing its that you can put a bounty on them and they will atack other factions, the other factions can also raise the bounty so they will atack you instead of them, this is a military and economic feature at the same time.
Since the game its a lot complex it would be very dificult to just jump in the game and play it, but the good tutorial and a very good interface prevents you from getting lost in what your doing.
Another cool thing its that you can wage war to the other faction with diplomacy, you don't need to atack them (but this continues to be the fastest way). Probably the worst thing about SOASE its that the battles can take a really long time, the first time you got to a map it took me 5 hours to finish my opponent, in multiplayer this is a major factor for people just go away sooner than expected.
Sound:
Honestly, there is nothing to say about this, there are good sound effects and some good ambient music, nothing extraordinary and nothing that stands out in this aspect.
Value:
Many people will be complaining because the game does not have a really single-player campaign, only a skirmish mode where you play against other factions and of course the multiplayer mode, the multiplayer has that big problem I stated at the end the gameplay section, about the single player you'll find that skirmish its very interesting and can last a long long time each game, if you have someone to play the multiplayer you will probably enjoy the game more that other people, but the skirmish its very good (or I must say the game its very good because skirmish its just... war) the depth and complex of the game really rewards you everytime you play it and with a long long battle it will become more and more rewardable.
Overall:
All real time strategists should get this and all the turn based strategists as well. Its the first great strategy game to come by in 2008, I just hope to see some expansion set or at least a sequel to this, even if you like fast paced strategy games like C&C I'm sure you will enjoy this great strategy game.