Hrmm... I was around way back when... I guess... I think the memory is failing in old age!
The SEV demo is very promising. Many bugs as yet... more like a limited open beta than an actual demo.
But the actual game play, I like for the most part. The AI is lame but then in the locked/grayed out controls for starting a new game the AI is locked in medium, and if it follows the SEIV pattern that means the AI isn't running on all cylinders in the demo with missing ministers and all.