an underappriciated classic
its not all kittens and cuddles however.
the graphics by now a day standards are obviously poor, but the gameplay and ideas are nothing you can trump.
the 3D arenas allow for mind boggling tactics as you think the enemy will come straight after you but you'll usually find yourself fighting a 360 battle.
and what battles there are! every unit is important, unlike modern games where there is a race to the biggest units, smaller ships can take out ships many times thier size because of one thing.....turret speed. big capital ships cant turn their guns fast enough to catch small nippy corvettes or fighters which is why a middle sized force of corvettes and fighters can take on a force of big ships and win.
the campaign has depth, twists and good anime cartoon scenes between missions.
reasources come in the from of matter which are clumps of dust or asteriods which are sucked up and used as RP (or requisition points) to build ships, research new ships, and repair ships.
multiplayer is very limited but you'll spend so much time in campaign that it doesnt matter, an odd skirmish was the best i needed.
overall a good solid game despite its age and what i think to be a top 100 game of all time.