And I usually dislike fighting games
First of all, the game is easy to just pick up and play. The computer can be set to ridiculous low levels, and if that wasn't enough, there's even a practice mode where you can beat on a defenseless computer and practice hitting your moves and combos, something that games such as the aforementioned Street Fighter and MK games for some reason lack. The controls are smooth and responsive, and it's also much easier to do things other than punching and kicking. Most every move is relatively easy to pull off, and learning decent combos takes no more than a couple of hours before you have something devastating that you can throw at your opponents.
The graphics aren't anything special. The backgrounds are nice, but certainly not photo realistic. The character sprites are pretty cubic, which was something that caught me off guard at first, but the animations are smooth and fluid and you don't really notice it after a half hour or so of playing, and they all resemble their VN counterparts perfectly fine anyway.
The sound is good. All of the effects, while not being anything special are perfectly placed, and the characters will shout things during the battle, though in Japanese. The music is alright, and goes with the flow of the game, but personally I turn it off and leave WMP running in the background with something a little more h4rd(0r3 and fit to fighting playing.
The gameplay itself is faced paced, fun, and not overly difficult. Though it can be a little bit not difficult enough if you really want a challenge. It didn't take me very long to be able to beat the computer on the highest setting with ease. In fact I find going up against the computer to be relaxing. That is if you consider beating someone over the head with a broom until their brains are leaking on the floor, then dousing them in a sea of burning alcohol to be "relaxing".
In addition, though all the characters are well balanced against each other, they are all completely different in practice. There was a time when I was trying to sub with Arcueid, but using her was so backward from using Kohaku that I eventually gave up and went back to using only Kohaku, so it's important to choose a partner and stick with them. But you will probably just end up getting used to whoever you grow to like. I started out using Akiha, but soon switched over to "that funny maid with the broom that makes me giggle."
So what do you do when you want more of a challenge? You download Caster and start getting in on some netplay matches. This is truly where the real meat of the game lies, and is how you will really become more skilled. It doesn't matter how good you think you are. When you first start playing online, you will without a doubt get marauded. You will be hit with the most devastating BnB combos that you didn't even think were possible, and will probably get Perfect'd in many matches. Only after you get put to shame a few dozen times will you realize that you can't play human players the same way that you play the computer, and from there you will slowly start to build some sort of skill.
From there on the game becomes an addiction. I often find myself going back and analyzing the replays of my online matches to see what I did good, what I messed up, and what I need to work on. I also end up reading about the advanced mechanics of Kohaku and how to more properly exploit her strengths and hide her weaknesses, and watch and analyze matches played by professionals.
The only real problems with this game would be that the computer difficulty should be able to be set higher, Ciel has too many clash frames, and that online, everybody and their grandmothers use Nanaya Shiki and Nrvnsqr Chaos, 2 of the biggest scrub characters in the game. Other than these, I can't find any glaring errors with it.
In short, this is an addictive, easy to pick up and play 2D fighter that won't frustrate newcomers, and that can be taken all the way up to God Tier tournament level play. With such a wide range of playability for any level of player, I could recommend this game to newbies who are just looking to pick up their first fighter, and punchan game fanatics alike.