I did play the previous beta Beamer, and I did like it.
It is much more stream lined then the previous SimCity game was but it still have some depth to it, from what I could play anyways. A lot of stuff was blocked, disabled in the beta and there was a 60 minutes gameplay limit so whatever you could achieve in 60 minutes type of deal.
Overall I liked it and will most likely buy it when it comes out.
I thought this guy did a pretty good job at previewing the beta:
http://tinyurl.com/by8wz9s
Steam: SpectralMeat