I wasn't familiar with the original, and I only came upon Elite II many years after it was made, but in playing it realized just why so many people loved it.  It was one of the first of the multi-role space sims, bringing new depth to space combat and resource management that was begun by the old Star Trek games and games like Star Raiders.  Here's a BBC article and video with gameplay:
 
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8266017.stm
 
Currently scrating that space-sim itch for me is the primitive graphics/tons of features ASCII Privateer, a remake of the old Privateer game with extra features added.  Now you can board other craft, fight the crew, and take their loot.  Pretty cool.  Once you get past the graphics it's quite addictive, as long as you don't mind the space flight being top-down instead of first-person.
 
Anyone space-simming it lately?