Manages to rise above the poor 360 controller!
Most everything about this game is great, the fighting is much deeper, with more specialised moves and more diversity between characters , yet still remains accesable, the online works well, the characters all look and play differently, the countering system is now much less forgiving and the graphics are beautiful, making good use of a vibrant colour scheme.
The only real problems with the game infact lie with the already much discussed xbox 360 controller that does not exactly lend itself to precise direction inputs. As such some of the moves and combos (Hyabusa's Raijin and Izuma come to mind) are far more difficult to pull off than they really should be. The xbox 360 controller is, however, not above getting used to so don't feel that if you haven't invested in a costly arcade stick you cannot enjoy this game.
In general every fighting game fan should think about getting this game despite previous judgements you may have made about the series, especially considering this and virtua fighter 5 are the only real 3D fighting games on the console as of yet. It's early days though and, if this game is any indication, the 360 could in time be perfect for any fighitng game fans console library.