As you can no doubt tell from the description Starfury's a whole different ball o' wax.
I'd say it's good. It has its drawbacks (2D universe anyone?) but nothing show-stopping (again, IMHO). If you liked Elite or any of its descendants (such as Starflight, Privateer, Protostar, etc.) you'll like Starfury. However unlike Elite and Privateer, you can't buy commodities and sell them for a profit on another world. Instead, you take "commerce" missions similar to the Merchant Guild jobs in Privateer.