It's what you'd expect. The rules are a little simplified. Controls are a tad chuncky but you get used to them. From a timeline perspective, it's a bit skewed. Cities take a long time to build things, but there are some buildings - especially near the end that make cities REAL powerful. You no longer use workers/engineers - buy roads instead. I can usually get gunpowder by teh 1500s, but can't get to endgame space until much later. Win by 1950s - often by military because tanks vs pikemen are fun.
I'm still working my way up the difficulty levels to find a good one, but bottom line: the same "just one more turn" feeling is ruining my grad school work just like high school all over again!