A circular polarising filter is just a linear polarising filter with a 1/4 wave plate stuck on the back. It has nothing to do with the shape of the filter, but it 'circularises' the light so it doesn't upset the metering and AF systems of some cameras. I've never had any problems in that area with linear, and others report the same, but that's the theory.
It's actually quite hard to find a linear polariser in the average camera shop these days (usually special order) but there is no practical downside to a circular polariser. I've tested dozens of polarising filters for my work, including linear, and while there are lots of differences between them (flare and ghosting, overall density, colour, sharpness with longer lenses etc) they are all identical in terms of polarising ability.