MoM is one of those "perfect" classic games that keeps you coming back for more, time and again. I never really got into the Civilisation series, and despite being made by the same company, MoM is a very different game.
(Incidentally, if you've played the card game Magic: The Gathering, you may notice some similarities. MoM was one of the original inspirations for M:TG.)
Although it has many similar mechanics to Civilisation regarding city resource management, unit movement, diplomacy, and so forth, MoM has hundreds of different spells instead of a technology tree. These spells range from blasting enemies in combat, to making custom magic items for heroes, to enchanting roads to allow for instantaneous movement. I'd go on, but the game comes with a separate manual just explaining all the spells.
The AI is very good. The only general weakness is that all of the enemy wizards are overspecialized in a particular type of magic with only one special skill each. Players can (and should) pick at least three special skills at the beginning, and never choose the maximum starting spell books, because spell books can be obtained from Nodes later. This fact is one of the few areas of the game the AI can't/won't plan to deal with, even at tougher difficulties. Still, if you haven't already played this game for years, you probably won't notice that loophole (and other particular idiosyncrasies of the AI) for a while.
Also: it's not explained anywhere, but if you find the AI are intruding too close to your cities, don't hesitate to threaten them, even if you have a non-aggression pact (but NOT if you have a full alliance, because being able to move your troops through allied territory is part of the point). You're *supposed* to do so, and they might give you a present to apologize.
Anyway, MoM = good.
