All Hail the OLD SKOOL!!!
General game play is turn based, but there are a couple of text based episodes, as well as realtime strategy based game play. All-in-all this is some pretty fun stuff. Be warned though, THIS IS NOT FOR THE HALO GENERATION GAMER! If you need a twitch experience this is not it. The whole game moves at a very methodical pace. I didn't think that it was quite as slow as X3, but it is turn based. Don't expect something else..
The game focuses on explorartion and ship development as well as pilot progression. Experience is rewarded for completing quests which goes into making your pilot a better fighter, trader leader and so on. On top of that, the parts of fallen foes allows you to upgrade your ship in unique ways. The strategy involved in managing the dog fights is really pretty fun
and takes quite a bit of planning, especially on the harder difficulties. There are a few rough edges in this game, namely the translation from its native Russian as well as a few crashes to desktop. These rank on the level of minor anoyances, especially because the game autosaves each time you land.
Graphics are dated, (a.k.a. max resolution 1024x724) but the art is good, which helps develope the environment and enriches the game play. This game is a happy updating of a genre I thought long dead. Does it incorporate DX10 shader effects or HDR? Absolutely not, but it has just as much fun as any of the big DX10 releases if not more.