[jimbob55]

Tricky question....

The game has great potential. As it is though, without mods. It's pretty crap. There is no balancing of weapons + techs. There is no decent AI. The graphics, while new + improved over SE3 are still not superior to civ2... In fact in many was the interface is inferior to civ2. There are few sounds, some of the menu systems are clunky to get where you want to go...

All that said. Add a few mods or wait a while for patches and it will become one of the better / best 4x games on the market for some time. It's always going to be lacking in eye candy, it's always going to be lacking 3d surround sound but it will (eventually) have depth. It's possible to set up an entirely original tech tree, AI + construction set for yourself or to share with friends..
So if you like playing a challenging AI out of the box, or zipping round in 3d terrain sims then you probably wouldn't be here. If you are prepared to deal with its little imperfections, it will keep you busy. I say buy it, but it's a game for life not just for christmas.

Hmmm, sounds a little more gushing than I intended.