Take Dungeon Keeper, put it into the space, add many great features and you have the Startopia! AAA class game, period.
As mentioned in the review deck, the game is a DK with a space twist. Basically you control a space station (SS) that you constantly improve hiring new staff and buying new rooms/items. The main difficulty of this game is to maintain a self-sufficient SS. There are tons of various aspects of the game that you have to keep an eye on: providing food / accommodation / health care; keeping your aliens entertained; dealing with terrorists/criminals; developing new technologies; trading with galaxy merchants etc.
You control a SS that is divided into sections. Each section is divided into 3 decks: technical, pleasure and bio. Technical deck is the 'heart' of your station - there you will put laboratories, power stations, security controls and various other rooms. In pleasure deck your aliens will just have some fun going to discos or playing with sexy Daevas in Love Nests. The last deck is called biodeck. On this deck you will literally shape the land (no more flat and boring metal floor) and grow plants.
In order to write about this game in details I would have to spend too much time (which I don't have, sadly). The nitty-gritty part is that this game mixes so many elements that are fun, and yet complex, while maintaining a perfect balance (every element has a meaning in this game) it's almost impossible to imagine.
On the top of nice graphics (easily handled by all not-so-new rigs) and good sound, you have tons of humor spread all around. Watch the screen of the Control Station, look how bots are recharged, listen to merchant's talk - those things all really hilarious and make the game so much better.
The only things that doesn't allow me to give this game 9.5 or 10 score is the lack of true replayability and some problems with camera control.