Darkstar One reminds me of the Privateer and Wing Commander series' of the 1990's. Never played Freelancer, but I guess it's a step forward from that also to some degree. It's all mission based. I was expecting some free-roam about the space station(s) and even inside my ship, but no dice (not yet anyways, only been in it for a few hours). It's almost bordering on arcade to me, run a mission, make money, upgrade your one ship (and one ship only). So far, not much beyond that.
I was a big fan of Wing Commander IV...Ah, the good old days.. :) This game interested me quite a bit, b/c as you mentioned, it seems like something of a throwback to the space shooters of the mid-90's updated with a nice dose of graphical polish and streamlined gameplay. I watched a demo on Gamespot and It looked pretty cool overall. Although it is a bummer to hear that there is no free-roam I hear that the story is actually pretty good.
It would be awesome to get WS support, either through a patch or .config tweak. Thanks for taking the time to bring it to their attention.