Heroes
The Blaster is self-explanatory in that he kind of sits back and blasts people from a distance. He does the most damage, but as a consequence his hit points suffer. When it comes to getting down and dirty you only have two choices: the Scrapper and the Tanker. The Scrapper is your "charge head-first into the fight" kind of guy. He's normally the first one in the fray and, hopefully, the last one. Whereas the Tanker is what is sometimes called a "brick". He's the guy who gets punched a lot. He can take an amazing amount of damage without dropping and is definitely useful to a group with his power to enrage enemies to only attack him. Now, on to the defenders.
The Controller is a sort of unique character as in that he uses mind control as well as a few other interesting powers to combat evil, a la Professor X. He doesn't have many attacks, but he can immobilize and mess with enemies in many different ways. Defenders sit in the back and buff the team as well as taking pot shots at villains from afar. He isn't as useful in combat as the offensive characters, but he has a better attack than the controller.
Once you get your Archetype, you then move onto the power tree. You can choose from many different power types ranging from Negative Energy to Guns, all of which give you a couple of low level powers to start with. You have the choice of a primary and secondary power tree, allowing for a greater level of customization.
After choosing powers you move on to picking what body type you want, as in Male, Female or Huge. After choosing your type and adjusting your weight you can then start using what has to be one of the most addictive steps in character creation history: Costume Creation.
I've never seen a game that gives you this many choices as far as the way your character looks. From what hat you wear to if you're a robot or not, you can customize almost every feature of your character. In fact, I've seen Lion-O wandering the streets, and let me tell you, he's very angry.
When you've created your costume and filled out your ID card (Name, Battle Cry and Description), you're ready to hit the streets. The game gives you the option of entering a tutorial zone to get the basics of how to play, which isn't a bad idea as it not only gives you a quick start it also provides you with some early experience. Once you've finished the tutorial, it's time to hit the streets and meet up with your first contact.