I came from 40K, Necromunda, and Bloodbowl, and a diet of sci-fi, much of it mediocre. Here's what blew my mind:
GUNS KILL PEOPLE!
There's a lot of actual dying in this game (as opposed to 40K pillowfights where everyone gets shot 18 times)!
Great Merciful CRAP this game plays fast! Every time I pick up the dice something happens!
So yeah. LOS was fast and tight, and unlike 40K where the blood and thunder is all in the fluff, it felt deadly, dangerous, and bloody in play.
I also liked the pared-down sci-fi that gave enough details for a concrete universe but then left almost everything open for the imagination. It avoided several of the cliches of big-picture sci-fi pertaining to obvious wish-fulfillment "and then aliens showed up and disproved religion/ instituted new totally awesome government run by boffins especially those in the author's field/ legalised pot" although, on the subject of wish-fulfillment, was any of it written by a Canadian infantryman?