Possibly one of the greatest games ever made. A definite must-have for any fighting game enthousiast.
Story-wise, this series is very rich. It may have the best story and characters of any fighting game series. Ever. The characters are constantly evolving, changing, improving. This chapter is no exception. Some things, people will notice right away, such as the addition of a projectile attack to Kyo Kusanagi's movelist, and a complete re-building of Shen Woo's movelist. Many characters have had sprite redraws, and all characters, with the exception of Iori, have had additions to their movelist. Most characters are now able to perform some fairly impressive combos with little effort, and tag in between characters mid-combo, which leads to massive potential for unique and interesting fights. Alright, on to the game's phenomenal battle system. While the game still lacks any sort of parrying or just defend system, it makes up for it with the superb skill stock system. In this game, you get two meters. One for skills, one for Deadly Moves (supers). You also choose a leader for your three man tag-team, and this leader is able to do a Leader Deadly Move (stronger super) and Dream Cancel (cancelling from a Deadly Move into a Leader Deadly Move, effectively dealing massive damage). The skill meter fills up only over time, and by no other means. It can be charged up to two times, resulting in two skill points stocked. one Skill Point is used for super cancelling (cancelling from a special move into a deadly move), another is used for dream cancelling, one is used for quick shifting (tagging to another team member mid-combo), and two are used to guard-shift or saving-shift (tagging while blocking, or being hit). The super meter can be stocked up to three times maximum by default, however, if a team member goes down, your limit increases by one, meaning that if you have only one team member remaining, you can potentially stock up to five supers. One super stock is used to roll (evasive movement, invincible while performing) while blocking, and can also be used to roll during a special move, effectively cancelling that move out, leading to some combo potential, but this is rarely used. One super stock is used to guard cancel, which is a large knockback attack done while guarding an enemy attack, which deals no damage, but gets the enemy out of your face. One super stock is used to do a deadly move, and two are used for a leader deadly move. Overall a very sensible and fun battle system.
There are over a dozen bonus characters to unlock, and 40 minigame/missions to enjoy. There is a whole lot of artwork to be unlocked, too, if you care about that sort of thing. All of the menus are in english, so the language barrier is nonexistant. The soundtrack is the best that has ever come from SNK, largely because of the move to the atomiswave. Fast-paced rock and techno is a major improvement over the traditional low-grade audio (catchy tunes, but still lacking) of former installments. The sprites are the best that they have ever been in this series, but still not quite up to the level of games like Guilty Gear XX and Street Fighter 3. You definitely won't find yourself turned off by the graphics though, they are still pretty good.
As is the standard for SNK games, there are 8 difficulty settings. Although the difficulty can go quite high, you may find yourself wanting it to go somewhat higher, as the AI will never get as hard as the AI in most other fighting games. But the AI is a very unimportant matter, as this is a fighting game and you will mostly be playing against other human players, which is where the completely free online service comes in handy. MMBB (the online service provider) is pretty smooth, and it seems that there are always people online to play against. The balance is where it gets a bit off. Although the game is mostly balanced, there are some problems. Momoko, for example, is a near useless character. She deals poor damage, has awful combo ability, and no priority on any of her moves, whereas Gato and Kula are the exact opposite. They deal great damage, have great combo ability, pokes and priority, and are somewhat easy to use. But that's not to say that they're invincible. Even a low tier character like Ramon has its high points, such as his ability to pressure extremely well.
In closing, I would recommend this game to anybody, fighting game enthousiast or not. Although, obviously, hardcore fighting game fans would get more out of its deep battle system and massive roster than a casual gamer. This game is well deserving of the high score I gave it, and well deserving of your time.