I'm quite convinced it's a CIA front.

That does make you wonder what the point of the whole IGN network is though. Although in the case of Gamespy, I wonder that anyway.

Very much yes. Completed it, it's fun and the music makes you dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCxy-4IAgzo
:)

And my favorite to go along with it :-).
(However, michaelleung has a point in that, thanks to the random song picker, a few can get in an endless loop.)

I bought it (D2D 6 euros) played the tutorial and then a random island sandbox mode for about 3 hours so far. What a relaxing game! It feels far better than the original for some reason and it just relaxes me. Love it!
Thank you all for your suggestions.

The only problem I have so far is how to deal with pollution. I guess I can follow the old SImCity route of placing parks in polluted areas, but anything else can be done?

There are several options available:
- install upgrades into the industries causing pollution or change their policies to minimise pollution. Upgrades often require a power plant.
- issue edicts that reduce pollution.
- when starting the game, choose character traits that reduce pollution.
- keep polluting industries away from populated areas to minimise the effect of the pollution.
- plant trees.
In Absolute Power there are further options including building a garbage dump.

If edicts and/or silencing the noisiest envionmentalists can't help, You might get the Absolute Power expansion, as it adds stuff to both the expansion and the original campaign. One of those is the Garbage Dump building which helps a lot with pollution.
some may say it AP breaks the original campaign, making it too easy, but i can never say "no" to diversity.
[edit]
Ninja'd by Navagon. ;)