For me... yes, a fast-paced shoot-em-up with lots of weapon choices is indeed "gameplay", but it's not even remotely similar to the gameplay I loved about CoH. Unless there's some updated information about defensive powersets, buffs, debuffs, mezzes, and Mastermind-style pet summoning, I'll pass.
Personally I don't think pets are a hugely important part of the CoH experience. Yes, they are there, and I had a Mastermind character I enjoyed playing, but Mastermind wasn't always there and wasn't there for heroes before Freedom. There were other pets, but I still don't think they were a major aspect of the game.
I agree though that things like being able to have a freezing power which slows down enemies or freezes the ground under them to make them slip is something I would like.
The single player game has no chance of feeling like an MMO, and that's something that can't be expected. Co-op is a stretch goal, and that would be where most of the features you mention would start to make sense. The great thing about Kickstarter is that it fosters communication between developers and players. So if you like the concept, but want something more, go ahead and contact the developers and tell them.
Personally as someone who mainly soloed through CoH I like the idea of Project Awakened a lot. It does promise to give me a lot of what I enjoyed in CoH, although I would still like to hear more about the story, because playing stories was for me the highlight of CoH.
