I have the game and have played: Age of Wonders (all of them), Master of Magic, All Civs, Elven Legacy and Orc Wars, etc.
I am highly enjoying it. The developer is supporting it so far with quick patches as the community points things out and, while it comes no where near the depth of Civ, it easily competes in enjoyment with the other games and trumps many in my opinion.
It's a little bit beer & pretzels - meaning you don't need a ton of thought, but it also has, at least for me, a one-more-turn affect so far and I've played too long at night over the last 4 nights.
I would give it a solid 3.5 out of 5 and personally am finding it a 4.
I have about 30 hours clocked so can answer specific questions if desired.