Feels like a refreshed 1st game. Still fun. A bit wonky as it crashes occasionally. And one thing perplexes me: why is Israel in Europe? ... Oh. I read up on it on wikipedia. Apparently they founded the asian group and then got expelled from it and ended up playing in the european group as nobody else wanted them. Typical.
A single story playthrough is around 16 hours. I believe you're supposed to play it twice, since both sides have some differences in mechanics. Plus there's the Utopia mode too. So overall you can enjoy it for a week, take a break, play something else, return to it at your own leisure. I recommend for casuals ;j