Far better then the mainstream Civ games, but sadly underappreciated.
Gameplay: The gameplay is probably the best aspect of this game. It is a solid 10, and Gamespot doesn't know what the hell they are talking about. Aside from having a much better interface then regular Civ games, the way you manage your empire is much more realistic as well as streamlined. Forget that moronic ridiculous micro city bull****, as well as having units tied to a particular city. I'm sorry but I thought the point of building a civlization was to manage the civilization (and do some happy warfare, of course), not sit around for hours micro managing every stupid city. Warfare is a lot more entertaining in this game, due to the fact that units are not tied to the city of origin but are supported by the empire (which is much more realistic. you don't see US fighter squadrons being decomissioned because the city the damn planes were built in mistakenly built a few too many, do you?). Diplomacy leaves something to be desired as it seems nearly impossible to make fair deals, or even deals that are highly beneficial to the AI, even when said nation is practically in love with you.
The game has a useful library which is a lot better then the cluttered haphazardly thrown together crap in Civ 3 or Civ 4. Best of all, is the ability to go into the future. For some reason that is incomprehensible to me and any sane person out there, the mainstream Civ games stop in the modern age. Not only does this give ridiculously stupid advantages to nations that have specific benefits in the modern age (like the Americans with the F-15), but it kind of completely defeats the purpose of building your empire to begin with. As far as I know, the United States has not stopped researching new technology and weapons in the real world, and started researching 'future tech' to gain points. I highly doubt that we will still have the look and design in cities and military units 500 years from now that we have today. So, that being said, Civ CTP kicks all other Civ games in the a** by letting you research up to 1,000 years in the future, building space and sea colonies, fusion tanks, star fighters, plasmaticas, leviathans, plasma destroyers and so on. The future, not just the past, is what it is all about, and that is something Mr. Sid has gotten wrong time and time again with the new and inferior iterations of his series.
So, buy this game if you have the unlikely fortune of coming upon it (it is a rarity, sadly). Gamespot has no idea what they are talking about in the review. It truly is much better then the crap they are passing off as Civ 4 these days. Yeah, stop in the 'space age'? Ha, thanks but no, I'll aim for the future then come back with a fleet of plasma destroyers and an army of Swarm and destroy your Civ4 civ with its 'high culture' and modern world tanks and marines. BUY THIS GAME