what papi-chulo said.
plus it's damned fun.
the costume generator alone is quite nice, not like EQ where once you choose your race and a few face models, that's it. Plus as you progress in the game, you can earn up to 3 more additional costume sets (alter egos?) plus each can be further modified if you're a member of a supergroup (that changes the colors on some costume items to the supergroup colors - you control what gets changed, and which one of the two SG colors gets used, if not left at the default setting). You CAN change your costumes at specific 'stores'... but it costs money to do so (the monetary concept is 'influence' - theoretically as you get more well-known as a hero, you can call in bigger favors from the population at large.)
as far as the gameplay is concerned, at low levels, you're pretty much on foot, running around beating on thugs and muggers and rescuing pedestrians. But as you progress you come across more dangerous bad guys, first ones with weapons, then ones with superpowers of their own. Some enemies are resistant to certain types of attacks, others are particularly 'allergic' to things like electricity or fire or cold or whatnot. So you learn how best to play based on what you're up against.
At level 6 you have the option of choosing your first 'travel' power - these are pretty whimpy, but they do add a little flavor. level 14 is where the REAL travel powers kick in - flight, super speed, teleportation, super leap, etc. With one of those, you can get across the map real quick.
as for the types of heroes you can play, there's 4 major archtypes, plus two bonus archtypes (unlocked when you get a character to level 50). plus there's 5 origins (tech, science/changed, mutant, magical, or 'natural') and three body types (M, F, and 'huge'). once you choose an archtype, each hero has a primary and secondary powerset to choose from (things like fire blast and fire control for somone like The Human Torch, etc.) Common power pools (powers all heroes can get regardless of archtype) open up at level 6 - I believe you can open up as many as 4 seperate power pools, and pick from each one as you wish. Plus powers can be enhanced with modifiers that add damage, add secondary effects like stun or knockback, or make things recharge faster or cost less to use. So there's a LOT of ways you can personalize things to suit your playstyle.
also there's a huge strategy component - running in and pounding the crap out of whatever you find usually puts you in the hospital. levels 1-4, hosp. visits are free, but after that, you take on what's called 'experience debt' (which means half your experience earned after that goes to paying off debt, and the other half goes to leveling up.) so if you die a lot you level up about half as fast, until you get enough to clear the balance. So, in order to keep from getting pummelled, you have to scope out what you're up against, and decide how to take things on, either solo or as a team. Good teams use everyone's strong points to bolster each other, and weak teams... well, weak teams end up in the hospital.
There are a lot of young teens on the game, and I suspect quite a few have either been playing for as long as the game has been out, or they 'power-leveled' their characters ('toons') to get them to level 50 right away. So there's a lot of l3375p33k floating around. you get used to it, and learn to ignore the truly obnoxious ones. The game does have a profanity filter, but you can turn it off if you like (with it on, not only can you not read other people's swear words, yours get filtered too.) But there's lots of older people playing as well.
vehicles, pedestrians and buildings are merely scenery items, you can't ride them, throw them around, or break them... YET. Some hints at being able to do so have appeared in the future expansions rumor mill.
with CoV and CoH installed, PvP will extend beyond the Arena to specific PvP zones; it will also allow team vs team play. All PvP is consentual, and you don't lose anything by losing a PvP match (other than a loss on your record). Also, CoV will allow villain groups to build lairs or hideouts - this will be extended to those with both game subscriptions, so that supergroups can build their own bases.
pretty much anyone who likes the comic book genres would enjoy the game, it's very well done.
