New or Old to the series, this game will make you smile and frown.
The good, this would be the many different things you can build, the different units you can recruit, and the different technologies you can discover so you don't feel like you are going on the same build every time you start a game. The game has many different difficulty settings, so when I say the difficulty is just right I mean that you can pick it to be just right for you. Along with it's many different difficulty settings it also has a generous advanced setup option that lets you make a game anyway you want from a game that lasts a couple of hours to ones that last for days.
Another good thing would include the new hexagonal plots, which are new to the Sid Meier's series which allow for realist looking border expansions along with new AI from history that somewhat match their suggested personalities with great diplomacy setup and many options for you too chose. There are also now new City States, which add to the fact you are not alone in the world in the start, and not everyone wants to kill/compete with you.
The bad, which would include the spiked military jumps. You could stay up with your military technology for half of the game, but as soon as you let it slip to get an economic advantage the county you just happen to be at war with gets over powered mechanized infantry to demolish your regular ones. There are also problems not new to the series such as overly aggressive AI who want nothing more than to wipe you off the planet, whether your a tyrant or a peaceful trader.
One of the most annoying things about the game is how they took something as good as an idea as the city states and put something completely out of whack in them making them greedy savages. For example, you could be best friends with your neighboring city state from the start of the game till 5 hours in, but as soon as some rich guy comes along with 1,000 gold to give them then declares war on you for no reason at all, you become the worst of enemies until many turns after the war.