I've got this game for my birthday and it's great fun though very chaotic. You can spawn anywhere (but flak kills you if you aren't properly equipped and drop too close to it), move anywhere quickly once your speedbooster is on, buy stuff anywhere, have a mission pop up anywhere, etc. The PC version is really the way to go though, the game may have a lock on that keeps your weapon pointed at the enemy but it's only good for a few seconds and takes a long time to recharge, it's enough to let any noob have some effect in a battle but not so much that it does all the fighting for you. I played the demo on the 360 and dual analogs just don't really do the job, it's much easier to play on the PC.
I only played in random matches so far though so I'm still looking for people to play in a proper team with. It's quite apparent that the game is intended to be all about teams, single people have almost no chance at completing the missions (events that appear and can be done for victory points) but in a group many of the tasks become easier than you'd think. There's still fun to be had just running around and doing whatever you feel like, you still contribute to the team and if it's just by adding victory points by killing stuff or feat points that trigger those missions. Or maybe just tearing down the defenses of an enemy position and inviting your whole team in for a party. An interesting side effect of the slower pace and lock on and whatnot is that lag is much less of an issue than in twitch FPSes.