When I first looked at the game I had mixed feelings. On the one hand the system seems to be a good mix of cinematics and simulation, and it's also fairly easy to understand. There are maps with traveling distances, scenarios, background info, etc. All very good, it has to be said. After I created my first character I really felt like starting to play immediately, always a good sign.

The one problem I have with this book is that it is messy. Yes, there is a overview of character creation both at the beginning of the chapter and at the end of the book under "Useful summaries", but that's already confusing because they're not the same. For example, the first one mentions that players start out with a sloop or brig, while the second one says players start out with no xp or advances. The points which say the same things are often formulated differently. None of the tables says something about choosing a home port, something that is only mentioned in the chapter about character creation. The chapter itself has a different order of steps than both of the tables, for example "Distinctive features" come second, while they are step 6 and 5 respectively on the lists. A quick summary of "Skills and Specialties" can only be found on the character sheet, but if you want to look for the explanation of a skill you have to flip through the whole chapter, because again the order of skills on the sheet is different from the order of skills in the chapter. For example: reflexes is the second category on the char sheet and fourth in the chapter. And that's only two examples.

All of these things could have been avoided easily, so while I think the game itself is a really good one, I cannot give it five stars because of it's slightly confusing and very incoherent presentation. That said, it's still worth your money.