Selly's right. Part of it probably is the DirectX drive check, but come on. It still shouldn't take as long as it does, and yeah, it doesn't freeze up my computer, it's just the idea that emulating a +15 year old system should not skip a f*cking beat even on a Pentium III system. I just think it needs a little housecleaning on the code. But here I go again, I don't really know shit.
More directly on topic, yeah try ME demo or any of the aforementioned emus if you just want to try the game. But for god's sake, take Necro's advice and get real system card roms.