Fun, but would I keep playing it?
I dedicated myself mostly to playing on a multi-player server. It was extremely enjoyable to fly through the Colorado silver asteroid fields in a freighter, with two guys in fighters covering me from the Xeno's. 40 units of silver later, we sold em for 712credits X 40... 28,480. Not to mention parts salvaged off enemy ships. At about 10,000 a person for 35 minutes work, you can get pretty far in this game pretty quick.
And that is one of the problems. Almost without trying, I'm level 15. You basically never experience anything new in combat, either. You follow the enemy with your mouse, getting better at it and learning to afterburn at the right times. Then, it's all the same. Stronger weapons, enemies with strong shields. Makes no difference. Missiles? Suck. Mines? Ok, interesting. Assaulting enemy bases? I haven't gotten to shoot at one yet, because one member of our group had torpedoes, and the base was dead before I finished off the fighters every time. Combat really is just not challenging unless you are facing off 6 or more against 1.
Also, the missions ARE all the same. Go out and kill someone, go out and kill him and bring him back, go out and kill everyone, go out and kill a base. That is it. I've been to 10 systems now, and countless planets and bases. Same missions, every time. Every bar, the same. Every base looks different outside, sure. But who cares? After the 30th planet/base you've gone into, you don't bother exploring them anymore. All you want is a good one with a new ship. The ships are fairly similar as well. A little faster, a little more armor and more space for weapons is the only change outside of appearance.
These are all negative comments, which distorts my appreciation of the game. I really enjoyed it. It was a blast playing privateer with other people. (Thats what I'd compare it too.) And it seems that they had some cool pirate bases that you could use if you were a pirate, etc. But it's basically all the same game after the first few hours. As far as balancing the factions, are you kidding me? Unless you know where the pirate bases are from the start, you kill Rougues, you don't kill good guys. Thats all. I saw someone talk about 'delicately balancing' your rep. Ahahahahaha. If someone gives me trouble, I kill them. It's not like it's hard. If you want to go pirate, start picking off cargo ships and what have you. Actually I would have to suggest someone like bounty hunters, so that the good guys don't hate you too much.
I was hoping this game would tide me over until Moo3, but I just don't see any reason to keep playing it.