Comparing it to Civ 4..

[Zeldor]

LDiCesare:

There is one civ in civilization, just cosmetic differences. And you do not need to adjust a gameplay according to enemy nation. But probably they wouldn't sell many copies if they made a challenging and good game, not just pretty [the same goes for Europa Universalis, which is really weak game with wasted potential]. And don't forget that vanilla civ was only a beta or even alpha version without many obvious and important things. And it was made only so they can release expansions and take money for them.

Only thing I can agree are mods - there are some finished ones with a game.