Could be a little better... could be FAR worse.
Although the game starts out with a boring beginning, as well as maps that are way too small for proper building, once you get into the game, the maps get larger, and the addictiveness of the game increases... because, by this time, you have now FINALLY figured out how to build your city and plan ahead.
As many people have found (myself included), there are still a lot of bugs in the game. However, I know that FireFly will eventually fix them, and so I will not crucify the game on account that they rushed the game because wanted to have an even chance against Caesar IV.
Many people compare this game to the Caesar series... which is a big mistake in and of itself. Although there are similarities, the method of development for your city in CivCity Rome FAR surpasses any Caesar game I've played. For one, you now have the opportunity to make your city better through research... a quality that I love when playing city-building games. You also have the most historic, and the most realistic Roman housing development that I've ever seen in a Roman city-building game by far! You can track a family from a hovel, to all the way to a palace, based upon access to luxury items and governmental structures (just like Caesar), but the method of development is quite a bit more complex and realistic in CivCity Rome.
I also liked the entertainment and wonder structures in the game. Graphically, they look very nice, and you don't need 5 Coliseums on one map in order to please your people (as in Caesar series). The entertainment required by your citizens is easy to come by, although the entertainment from a Coliseum, compared to a plaza is obviously going to keep your citizens 'need' for entertainment happy for a longer period of time.
Most of the downfall in this game (in my opinion), is from the military campaigns. I think they could have done a FAR better job on military units and strategy then they did. As of yet, there are also major bugs that make military movement into battle quite a pain. I DO however, like the fact that you can move your units outside the city to attack another city (although you don't actually control the attack on the city itself). Yet, they still only had ONE map in the entire military quest that allowed for the use of this feature. I found myself bored with this type of quest quickly, whereas the peaceful campaign seemed more in-depth and enjoyable. Another downfall would be that there aren't enough 'sandbox' missions with large maps. But if you'd like to make one, the map editor will allow for this.
Conclusion:
Those people who can't get past the many bugs in this game should really give this game a chance when the game patches come out. I think the potential of this game to become a classic was only hindered by its release before it was actually finished (due to the upcoming Caesar IV of course). With a few extra modifications and fixes, this game would ROCK!