Okay so I jsut went and bought the game, and played for a while at Play n Trade (which pwns Gamestop). I went 5-1 and played as Deathstroke, Batman, and Scorpion, while opponents played at Sub-Zero, The Joker, The Flash, and Batman, here's my review in categories

gameplay: 9/10 while not the most fluent animations, the gameplay was simplistic and sweet, always fun.

Combos: 8.5/10 easy to perform, and easy to figure out

Balance: 6.5/10 it was clear that a tier list COULD be made, with Batman somewhere near the top, while each character had good pros and cons, two characters whose gameplay really stuck out was Batman and Sub-Zero. They're powerful and easy combos dominated, while they're good special moves helped in long range fights.

pacing (strange category) 8/10 thanks to klose and freefall kombat, the action never let up, however, at long range, when you don't know most of the specials, or it was easy to sidestep, people wouldn't come close, and it was a drab shootout

Playability 9/10 A simple pick up and play game, whoever you choose, you could easily learn to use them properly and pwn faces, while mastery of a character made you even better.

Overall (not an average) 9/10 the perfect fighter for veteran's or newcomers to the franchise or even the fighting game genre. If you think I'm being too nice, I implore you to give a controller to a first time player and see how they do. The controls are slik, and combos and moves are broad and easy to do at the same time. This is a definite for any MK fan (Give it a chance Ahnka, Deathbearer, and those others who dismiss the game for whatever reason) It's the best MK game since the 2D days.