Challenging but at points very frustrating.
The boss fights are a complete nightmare, fighting Goro when just 2 hits and an X-Ray and you're dead, i mean 53% damage from an X-Ray? Really? And the sheer inconsistancy of difficulty has been well noted from players and it ruins the fun. I'm all for trial and error but there really is no need to be retrying the same match 30 times to win. Shao Khan seems to be the bigger issue here but i've not reached that far yet as i just plain suck.
Now onto the good points.
I will say the story is reasonably well made for such a game that really has no reason to even have a story but during this you fight lots of times and with different characters which is good and it seems to make sense.
The game plays very well throughout and each character is just as well balanced as i could have hoped for, there is plenty of content even on singleplayer with the Challenge Tower and Training and the Krypt collectibles, nothing beats showing up to a fight with a costume your friend hasn't got or a new fatality that your friends haven't seen.
The X-Ray kills are incredible, very well made and highly polished with no odd or annoying artefacts on any character combination. Fatalities are really gorey which is brilliant and plays out beautifully, the fact each character has atleast one unlockable fatality is great for keeping you wanting to have and use them all.
The nature of the game is combat and competition which anyone could tell you and damn does it get you hooked, i've been thinking about the game since i got it and really cannot seem to get enough of the game even if it means using the practice mode on my own. I just want to play more of it and get better, i want flawless victories but i need to try much harder and play a lot more and damn it i will be glad to.