So far so good. Tutorials are brief and to the point, certainly enough to get the basic mechanisms covered and explore a few concepts without being overwhelmed.
Once the proper missions start then the real question start popping up about what sensors to turn on, what to leave off, optimal number of missiles to fire to ensure success... you know, the sort of stuff that takes days on the forum or years of staff college (naval officers aren't the sharpest cutlasses in the box...) to answer. So probably plenty of depth to explore (no pun...honest...).
Graphics are nicely modelled so its clear to spotters what units are what, and landlubbers should become familiar pretty quickly. The environment & effects are not going to win awards for beauty but they do their job.
Overall I can see myself wading around the missions clicking random sensors on and hoping thats not inviting disaster, and fishing about for tips on the forum and being entertained in the process.
One thing that can be a little frustrating/disapointing is camera tracking a missile into a target ship. Should be dramatic and suspenseful but sometimes feels a bit like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPXG4pdPj4w&feature=related I know you can speed up passage of time, but it trips out when something occurs elsewhere. And if your missile is destroyed it just stops. Should be a joy to follow your arrow into the bulleye, but I dont't think many will bother too often. Of course the main focus is the overall strategy thats important. Just feels a little bit undramatic at points. Which is fine if want you aim for a cool calm collected removed from the action effect, but operations rooms are rarely like this (maybe I can get my girlfriend to shout orders and reports in my ear to recreate the effect, and set a few alarm clocks off...). Its little things that will make the difference between a good game and a great game. And choices of course for re-playability. Hopefully future multi-player improvements already discussed will take this to the next level in future, but so far plenty of meat on the bone to keep us busy I think.