Give this game a chance. A great atmosphere, gameplay and soundtrack make this a piece of gold.
Anyway, the first thing you need to know is that this isn't a normal lucasarts adventure game. Do not expect a "humor festival" like Monkey Island because it isn't in the slightest. This is a sci-fi adventure game, focused to sci-fi lovers.
The story is pretty simple: You are trapped in an alien planet and you want to come back home. From now on you are free to explore this planet and unlock new paths to advance in the story.
The most difficult aspect about the gameplay is that you need to figure out how to solve puzzles, etc., because there are barely clues. Your friends will have interesting conversations with you but generally they don't help you to solve the riddles. They do however participate actively in the story and you will need their help in several situations. What people say about "trial and error" and "iterating" isn't THAT true. There are only a few riddles that you will have to iterate a bit, but it isn't much of an issue.
The graphics, videos and animations are nice for its time. Voice acting is great too.
But the best thing hands down is the music. It has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. There are true masterpieces in this soundtrack.
About Steven Spielberg taking part on it I couldn't care less, to be honest, but this is a great adventure game nonetheles. It is not perfect either, but definitely doesn't deserve that "4,5" because some reviewer thought this would be "Monkey Island in Space".
Give it a go, it's my recommendation ;)
PD: You will need ScummVM to run this game.