Abysmal marketing, but the game itself is a cut above other recent MMO releases.
Character creation is a bit on the dry side, especially after having played such games as AoC. On the other hand, being able to customise your outfit appearance makes for very distinctive characters. You might as well spend a bit of time on that, since you will be able to keep that outfit for a very long time if you wish to - there are no "stats" on equipment, so you can keep your starting outfit all the way through if you like it.
There are nine classes to choose from, but you only begin with a choice between three archetypes (warrior, rogue, mage), and get to specialise at level 5, after you've experienced the basics of the gameplay and world lore. What is more surprising is that there are no dedicated "tank" or "healer" classes - while some classes are more apt at healing (themselves mostly) than others, every class includes a significant DPS component, and there are no threat-modifying combat skills. Add this to the fact that most mobs have an IA that makes them focus the classes that would hurt them the most (mages for melee mobs, melee classes for mobs that can make themselves immune to magic, etc) and you have a threat management that is quite different from the standard "tank and spank" so prevalent in the MMO genre.
Gameplay is perhaps the more radical departure from MMO classics (where you select at target, then click or hotkey combat techniques or spells to pound it) : use of a reticular display requires actual continuous in-movement targeting, and attack avoidance is only when you actually move out of the way :) This, coupled with a rotating skill deck system, makes for a very dynamic, FPS-like combat. I am not a PvP kind of player, but I can imagine that people who talk about "games that require skill" will like it. The skill deck is re-configurable between combats [there is currently no feature to store deck configurations and switch between them quickly, but the feature was mentioned as a future development].
World design does not follow the pseudorealism trend that was a staple of e.g. AoC. Rather, it has a distinctive, european graphic novel-like look, which gives a unique atmosphere and "feel". It strengthens the world lore, which is a mix of fantasy and post-apocalyptic storyline.
All of the above (graphic design, world lore, gameplay, character progression) creates a very compelling gaming environment.
Of course, the game is not perfect - like most MMO releases, it is plagued by various bugs (ranging from annoyance to hurdle). It also suffers from a relative dearth of non-grinding contents in the mid-level range, which will hopefully be patched quickly.
However, the major flaw of the game is not in the game itself, rather in its marketing : game release was a complete mess, with three different release dates (one of them - that of the Acclaim version - still to be announced), and the european player base split between two different publishers, with one of them requesting IP-blocking features from the others to avoid losing market shares.
Still, the game itself is a joy to play. It is *not* free-to-play, but 1) the starting zone is f2p up to level 7, and 2) the box comes at a very attractive price (€15 for the "DVD case" version that includes one free month, and €40 for the "deluxe" version that includes three prepaid months and a few goodies). I would recommend very much trying the game - or, for those who are in the Americas or anywhere in Acclaim territories, to try and get into the Acclaim beta :)