What a disappointment...
Story: 6/10
Pretty decent for the first time. Monsters are attacking the entire planet, and it's up to 4 heroes to stand up against them all. Each character has their own reasons for hunting down these creatures, but most of them are pretty cliche and un-interesting at best.
Music and Sound: 3/10
Easily forgettable sound track. It's very disheartening to find that Capcom (a company known for killer soundtracks in their games) really dropped the ball on this title. The music has really no style or substance. it's as bland as Captain Commando's music. The sound effects are even worse. From crappy voice acting to generic beast sounds and hits.
Characters: 4/10
Since there's only really 4 characters, all but one of them (Tessa) are terrible. Leo is a king who wants to re-obtain his humanity and rule again. Typically, he's the strongest and the only GOOD fighter to boot. Kenji is there to fill the ninja status quo that is required for all fighters these days. Unfortunately, his attacks and storyline (to serve the shogun who wants him dead apparently) are horrible at best. He's also a shoto clone sort of. Then again, Mei-ling is more of a shoto than Kenji. She's the stereotypical "im the strongest female fighter in the world! I KNOW KUNG FU!" chick. She also has panty shots. Wow. Tessa is actually cool. A witch who doesn't give a damn about the planet. Problem is her moves suck. Eh...can't win at all huh?
Gameplay: 2/10
Speaking of can't win, the AI will do this to you multiple times. beat the ish out of you, while you try to get past their super armor (meaning they don't flinch even if you use special attacks!). The controls for the characters offer no combos, but they feature super jumps and super moves. The way super moves are used is similar to Gaia Crusaders. you use orbs and crap. The game also features an experience system that allows you to level up (an excuse to make you incredibly weak at the beginning of the friggin game). Balance is an issue because of this. Monsters like Hydron can kick your ass without even breaking a sweat. The thing with the mallet is a pushover as well. The AI is worse than previous fighters from capcom. You can't get passed level 3 for god's sake. It's that imbalanced and especially if you are unable to level up and gain new advantageous moves...OR YOU DO LEVEL UP BUT HARDLY GET ANYTHING OUT OF IT! This rpg system serves nothing but to hamper your gameplay through the first few levels, and since this is the arcade only game, its AI is severe.
Battle mode? Nothing special. Four characters, boring gameplay.
Replay Value: N/A
It's the arcade.
Overall
This game is a piss poor example of when capcom tries to cram ideas from other (better) games and fails to combine the elements, and worse, F's up the fighting system with overpowered enemies with friggin super armor, cheap bastard AI, and you practically with less options untill you level up (but it's too late, cause by level 2, you're screwed by Hydron). This is pure junk, and it's obvious why capcom won't re-release it, just like their reluctance with SF1.