So far it's pretty balanced between the fun and hardcore. It feels kind of like two different games the way they are handling the space and ground combat.

The ground combat reminds me somewhat of KOTOR in that third party POV with a bunch of NPCs following along and taking orders(presuming you're playing solo). I can't think of a reference game for the space battles, but they are detailed enough to make tactical strategy necessary(shield facings, weapon arcs and cool downs), but not so detailed as to be mind numbing. So far my biggest complaint would be the rate of leveling, it needs to go just a touch quicker for the beginning levels IMO.

This is all keeping in mind it's still beta for another couple of weeks and there's been small patches almost every day so it's very much still a work in progress.

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It would have been an accidental shooting, had he not reloaded... twice.