Yeah, it actually got two patches. The second one was 200 MB and contained better allround physics, better drawing of graphics when you fly, better stability, engine optimizations (No more stutter for me! Yay!) and countless bugfixes. The second patch really made a game out of Boiling Point, because (as you already said) the game was released in such a horrid state it was barely playable.
Everyone who likes open-ended games with lots of replayability and realtime FPS-style combat should take a serious look at Boiling Point. It sells for 99 SEK (~$13 US) now, at least in Sweden. It's also a very long game, unless you just rush through the main quest.. and even then it would still be much longer than Jade Empire.
When I had completed my first run through (doing as many of the guerilla missions and government missions as I could) I had clocked somewhere between 80-100 hours.