I had passed on getting this game when it was originally released. I was turned off by the idea of being stuck playing one character in one ship. Well, I was wrong, and I'm happy to admit it.
While it would be nice to be able to create your own character, the ship is so customizable that it doesn't really matter that you keep the "same ship". Being limited to playing the single available character does have an advantage in that the plot is less generalized, as would be required for custom characters.
The only thing that makes it a good game rather than great is the general repetition. The game shuffles from one dogfight to the next, without much variety. What makes it very good, however, is that these dogfights through space are fun. I haven't had so much fun destroying things in space since Wing Commander.