I picked it up last night. The game itself seems more difficult, mainly due to the hex board and being able to change which way the gems slide. Also, 4 of a kind no longer gives an extra turn, but just a bonus. I haven't had any trouble with the planet menus sending my ship away yet, but the loading times are starting to tick me off. Not as much as hacking, though. I've probably done 20 hacking challenges so far just to get through 4 or 5 gates, but I've only fought 3 or 4 actual battles. Actually, the thing that really makes hacking worse is when I'm down to a few seconds left, and I can see my final move, but a chain reaction starts and uses up the rest of the time before I can make the move. I just went back to the one of the earlier areas and saw one of the gates I had opened go offline, so I guess I get to hack it again. Yay.
I never finished the original PQ, so I pulled it back out last week. I had stopped playing it because it eventually got old when I was around level 28, but it felt really fresh to start again where I left off. Still, I'm going to keep focusing on this one for a while. I like it so far, despite it's flaws. I just hope that it doesn't become a burden to keep playing.