The game is excatly like Freespace, except with much, much more. One thing that I always loved about the series is that you feel incredibly tiny compared to the enormous capital ships flying around you, blasting each others with enormous laser rays or trying to swat down little flies like yourself with flak guns, all the while dodging the OTHER swarm of flies that just desired to blow up your craft with explosive ordinance.
I remember when I bought that game originaly when I was a kid. I just finished Freespace 1 and was wondering if there was some kind of sequel. I was still all ego-pumped from finishing that damned last mission and then I found it in a WalMart. I wasn't dissapointed! I'm not an expert at Space Sims, but I understand that Freespace-series is more arcade oriented than most. Most of your ships can take mucho damage(thanks to shields) and some have some obscene firepower.
The storyline is also pretty great and it's worth to check it out until the very end. Controls are ...well, depending on whenever you have a flight stick or not. I didn't. I used the numpad, but I ended out OK!
In the end, it's worth checking out, but check out Freespace 1 if you must, first. Y'know, story and stuff.