Thanks, Ragnarok. It looks like our preferences overlap to some extent. I did get the demo and for me it's a bit of a learning curve; the only manual I could find in the package just describes the various screens--useful, but incomplete.
As for the voice acting, the first time the demo vocally confirmed one of my commands I nearly jumped out of my seat; I wasn't expecting an oral response and I had the volume turned too high.
The voices were amusing the first 40-odd times, but now the novelty is wearing thin.
I assume the game was simplified and abstracted to speed up gameplay, devote resources to graphics, and emphasize the real-time combat. Unfortunately my first combat came and went so fast my two ships died while I was still trying to change orders from "Hold fire" to "Fire at will".
The explosions were quite pretty.
