The workload is huge just to afford an engine to speed up your ship but, after that the game really opens up. It is so satisfying to have purhased a product on the cheap and manage to sell it somewhere else at a much higher price. This is essentially the format for the first part of the game and although requires considerable patience is nevertheless VERY rewarding. Combat isn't really introduced until later on so all that has to be worried about is successful docking and getting good profits on products. After that is a simple process of travelling between trading stations and sectors gaining credits.
Trading is also very simple.
A neat menu system with buying and selling prices etc, very tidy. Function keys are spread across the keyboard but after a while performing tasks is done almost without looking down. It has to be mentioned though that as you advance in the game and buy parts for your ship playing methods change. Overall i found the gameplay to be quite polished and well thought out. Graphics were impressive and very undemanding on my system.