An improvement to SFIV
Other things that I don't like include the nerfing of my favorite character C. Viper. Her burning kicks are less safe on block, her HBK is slower, and her medium TK is less safe on block. They also didn't take this as an opportunity to fix her hitbox on her crouching medium kick. A lot of improvements that could've been made to her that they neglected. I also dislike Adon. Hated him in Alpha, hate him in this game. I like the character Hakan, but they didn't make him as formidable as they could have. A cancellable oil dive and oil shower would've been good. Some of the new ultras seem like crap. Fei Long and Cammy's counter ultras are terrible. With this game's mechanics most opponents won't fall for your ultra since inputs applied at the same time of an ultra screen are negated and opponents will just either throw you, do nothing, or wait until it's free to do a free combo to you. As for the costume DLC, most of it is garbage. Chun Li, C. Viper, Sakura, Sagat, and plenty of others have uninspired and bland alternate costumes. You get colors 11 and 12 as bonuses for having SF4 saved data. These 2 colors don't look that great, especially 12. 12 makes your character look like he/she is made out of TV static. 11 looks good on some characters those being characters with black costumes. These colors should have also been filters and not colors. Dudley's VA should sound more like his SFIII one. I still want DLC for that. Also fail for not having him say "Let's fight like Gentleman" also his taunt number 8 sounds off and he lacks a "You have no dignity" title.
Now for the good stuff. What I like about this version is that it seems that a lot more characters are viable now for real play. Sagat and Zangief have been tone down. I still find E. Honda to be bothersome for my C. Viper though. I enjoy most all of the new characters, excluding Adon. My favorite being Juri. She's a unique character, but she can have a bit of an unsafe playstyle. Online has been improved with region settings, larger player lobbies, and new modes. Team battle is good, but not that many people play it. Replay channel was a good idea, but there needs to be a way to search for high ranking players, by specific character. The way they have character replays set up is weird and a bit annoying. When searching replays by character you can only watch live ones or ones that have just been uploaded. To me I would think it would have been easier just to separate them by old replays with those characters. The option to save replays is a major improvement overall. The game saves them automatically. I just wish maybe they could have added an offline replay feature.
The addition of Bonus modes in arcade is a plus, though I feel they are too easy. I think they should've added difficulty levels for both of those. The AI is improved in this game also. Seth seems easier or that just might be my improvement in skills. Lastly the thing I want to talk about are the new ultras. The new ultras for each character for the most part, provide different ways to play with your character and are welcome additions. Unlocking character colors and taunts are easier and faster this time as well. All you have to do is play with that character.
Overall this is an excellent game and a steal for a measly $40 though you can find it cheaper, which is even better.