Cities is a good game. It does everything you expect from a title in this genre well but nothing exceptional. It's not original in any meaningful way but in a genre that has few competitors that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all if EA hadn't chubbed the latest version of SimCity(or atleast the initial multiplayer version shoved down our throats) then Cities would have probably quickly been relegated to the bargain bin as a decent copy but uninspiring imitator to the original product. However by alienating fans EA forced us to look for some other viable alternative in the city building genre. Cities XL was a decent option but felt a bit sterile, lacking a lot of the 'fun' factor that you were used to with Simcity. Cities Skylines is also missing that factor but not quite as much as XL.
Bottom line; if you're looking for an alternative to SimCity you wont be terribly disappointed with Cities, just don't expect to find anything new.