I wasn't sure about Civ3 at first because I never played Civ games but I did like AOE, AOE2, all the C&Cs. My friend said it was really cool and he played Civ2 alot but Civ3 (and I quote) "is a little kid game". Er more involved and strategy then the games I normally play.
But I went ahead and bought it and man it is addicting! I'd play for hours and hours, wasting away a couple days. I've been playing it every couple days now and as soon as I get into it I can't stop playing!
It's a turn based strategy game. Somewhat like AOE in the fact that you start in a early age and research new things and build new stuff and get to a later age. But different in other ways... You build cities but you don't see what goes on in the city. You can change things about the city but for the most part, you are viewing a world map so you can see all your cities and land and stuff.
Again, I never played the type of game but I really like it. If it's from a store where you can return it, then I'd go ahead and buy it because you can return it anyway and no loss for you.