Changing hp system to 100 base, instead of 10 base, has made a lot better balancing in actual troop strengths and more flexibility in your combat.
Religion and espionage can be either annoying or useful, depending on your situation. You can turn them off in the menu though. Some civs cannot survive without religion. Espionage is more for LOSING civs, and it does not provide ANY advantage to the already ahead civs, as you become more and more defensive in your espionage strategy, due to the system limitation.
New civs are meh~, thqh.