Landing on planets: cool.
Deploying your own mining equipment: cool
Missions and bbs systems: cool
Hyperspace tracking: cool
Buying different ships: cool
However...
Newtonian flight: baaad
Trying to fly without an autopilot: bad (ping-pong flight)
Combat: bad
Amount of time spent having a game in relation to pissing about with flight mechanics: not enough...
It did have its good points, but was it good? I'm not sure. Elite was a classic game because it was easy to pick up and play. Have a few runs, save the game then go for tea. Frontier tries to be a simulation which reduces the ability to pick up and play, especially when a flight from hyperspace to planet/station takes over an hour thanks to the twenty long, drawn out battles that happen on the way...
B5 IFH is darned good if you're a fan of B5 (which I am) but it will suffer in the same way Frontier does since it does do newtonian physics. It does, however, handle that better than Frontier did. It's also far more atmospheric...
![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
There will always be the Elite/Frontier fan base schism. Potaytoes, potahtoes and all that. My argument: Frontier was its own game in its own universe and Braben chucked in the Elite ships and planets as an afterthought.