The GUI could use a little work, (it's pretty, but not very intuitive at first) but overall it's a fun and relatively in-depth game from what it seems.
The graphics are nice. Reflection maps, bump maps, glow maps, overexposure effects, etc. are all used to good effect and there are even name plates on the Human ships.
Thrusters seem to fire, turrets track targets, etc. Pretty much it's like the graphics in Homeworld 2 but with a little more glitz.
Some pixel shader based effects would have been nice for the shields and such.
Overall, it's not so much that the game is state of the art but that there hasn't been a spacesim using "bleeding edge" graphics yet.
