I was in on the beta. It was OK, but it didn't live up to expectations. The aspiration to have a highly interactive environment wasn't really lived up to. You can pick up certain objects and either hit foes with them or throw them. You can also attack them. The problem is, it's all very clumsy and fake-looking. There's only one animation for attacking with a given object, for instance, so it looks kind of silly and tedious to flail at a bad guy with a lamp post. Objects don't show wear and tear as they break, they just spontaneously detonate when they (eventually) run out of hit points. And forget about knocking foes back through walls, that just isn't going to happen here, because most of the environment isn't actually destructible or interactive, just certain props (so you can still be herded through maze-like missions).
Many other effects equally poorly-executed. Think how cool it looks to throw a lightning bolt in the comics. In CO though, it's not a wicked arc of zig-zagging energy your electrical superhero throws, but rather some unimpressive, limp streamer of energy that kind of reminds me of a plasma lamp.
OK, those are my gripes. Now, the flipside is that it is actually pretty fun despite the lack of polish, which will hopefully be improved upon with time. I don't think there's any element of City of Heroes that you'll miss in CO, and CO does improve upon it in many areas. For instance, there are open quest areas.
Unfortunately, the Xbox version seems to be in limbo at the moment, and it's likely Champions is going to welsh on us the same way Conan did.