The PvP is ...engaging...due to the ease of communication through the very basic and well used on screen live chat system, decent distance based VOIP (now) and increasingly improving ship combat mechanics...hell, even I enjoy it from time to time. Comparitively, ship to ship PvP is still skill based rather than a preset multiplayer PvP ship meta...to a degree. I should add I normally avoid any comparisons...since there's none really to be had besides the commonality of pixel spaceships.
That said...multicrew is also very good, the selectable ship channel VOIP is excellent...and importantly (for me) the multicrew system doesn't rely on some hard to swallow handwavium to acomplish. You get some mates or team up with some randoms and watch them climb aboard when you go pick them up wherever they are...which means they can't just teleport to your space chariot and magically man your guns. They can also jump out of your ship and accompany you on planet based endeavours...jump into your ground vehicle with you or independently of you or fly your ship when you go walkabout...With the newly implemented mission sharing, they can also take part in missions and get paid either flying their own ship, one of your spare ships should you own any or as an onboard crew member.
The FPS combat is spectacularly bad if you've ever played any other FPS adversarial title either PvP or PvE..but the option to just get out of your ship with upgraded personal armour to your own tastes with a few guns of choice to explore your surroundings still gives SC that something extra....I like personalising my armour and the mix and match armour component and colour options system is very good to create an individual look. I always wear the same stuff...to the point where folks I know on the servers actually recognise me on sight on occasion since it's not an off the shelf look.
The space trucking is also engaging...still a grind like ED but can be rewarding at the same time despite the constant danger of losing it all to a server disconnect. The ship upgrade system is clunky but decent and doesn't rely on some overthought, badly implemented and unbalancing game mechanic to reliably upgrade your current chariot...all you need is a bit of time, some earned aUEC (or spare donor ships) to upgrade the basic functions like shields, coolers, powerplant, QT range or weapon loadout...a feature I like and use a lot.
Like Sovapid said, it's not difficult to be blown away by Star Citizen...even in it's current state... with all the forewarnings and forebodings galore handed out by the likes of Sovapid or myself online to potential star struck eejits when playing. There's more than a few of us still drawn back night after night for the experience from the $50 starter backers to the dolphins and whales. That's way too easily dismissed by detractors with the assertion we're all simply gullible idiots or shills sucked in by predatory marketing...
Somehow, I think that evaluation is all a bit too convenient.
