Well, the fact that it has some real villains and apparently a plot separates it quite a bit from Crackdown, so that comparison just needs to go. I loved Crackdown, still do, but it's getting more credit than it has ever deserved.
And as for the powers, yeah, they look a bit weak at the moment, and boring to use. But those will supposedly change, so we'll see. Not sure what was wrong with the mini-boss, though, looked like something lifted out of a comic book to me. Assuming we are talking about the same one. Fighting it looked like a drag, but the creature was pretty alright.