lol, now I feel like I'm coming across more critically than I meant to. I enjoyed AC:R a lot (but of course I'm an Assassin's Creed freak). I recommend it to anyone who likes Assassin's Creed and wants to play more of it. And the gameplay loop wasn't hurt by any of the added things, you can just ignore them if you want to and it plays just like the older ones. And they made the assassin training mission system deeper, and I spent a few hours just running around managing that, and could have spent much longer. And the upgrade-the-city mechanic is basically the same as in Brotherhood.
Though I would say that if all the side quests are important to you then you might not like this one as much, because there are like 3 side quests in the whole game (not counting collectibles).
Ultimately, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Assassin's Creed, though if the side quests are important to you (or if you're not just absolutely in love the the series like I am) I'd wait for a price drop. But don't skip it altogether (unless you're just not interested in the series, in which case go ahead and skip it).