This game makes me feel like it's 1991 and I am back at 7-11 dumping quarters into its predecessor again!
First off, this game is gorgeous. Everything from how the characters are drawn to their animations. The fighters move so fluidly you don't even think about it. The combos are a blast to try and get a hang of again. The new characters are all pretty cool. There aren't any additions that I think are lame or that are not really fun to use. The controls are fun. I absolutely can not wait to get a stick to go with this game though. I can see how that would make this game even more fun than it already is.
I do however have a few criticisms. The cut scenes are pretty cheesy. If you are going to give us haphazard exposition for all of these characters, why give it to us at all? I don't need a story to enjoy a fighting game, so why do I have to put up with this nonsense while I unlock characters? The translation in the game is pretty hilarious too. Thankfully, after you successfully complete a full game in Arcade Mode on any setting, you can switch to Japanese.
There are some funny moments too. For instance, there is a scene for Rose where she is looking at a door and the sign says, "CLOSE" not "CLOSED". I found that to be classic late 80's/early 90's type of translation and it made me laugh pretty hard. I hope that scene was left in on purpose to give it a nostalgia feel for the gamers that grew up in that era of gaming.
I took a look at some of the stuff you can unlock with achievement points and was very impressed with a lot of it. They did a very good job of rewarding players for on-line modes. I am still getting my feet wet playing against the computer before I get absolutely picked apart by veteran gamers who devote their time to fighting games. Hopefully I can win a few matches with my Honda or Sakura :P
If you have been waiting for a great fighting game to come out for years now, do what I did and go pick this thing up with a quickness. I promise that you won't be disappointed!