Had this installed a few months and think its a good buy.  It looks good, works as intended. 
4 stars because I think its about $400 too expensive for what it is, but we needed something that would ship quickly so bought this rather than waiting for a few similar units that had 1-2 week lead time.
Anyways - yes this comes in alot of heavy flat-packed boxes and is a pain to assemble. Its not hard, just time consuming and you need to follow the directs. Read them ALL the way thru first, then start.
Also, a good tip is to unbox everything in another room and lay everything out. If you try to unbox and assemble in the same room you want the bed to be it will be frustrating.  Don't use a power drill - you'll strip the particle board very easily.