This is great game. But yeah, the Ultra Combos are impossible to pull off. Usually when I try for it's always a 50/50 chance. There's a lot of Ken/Ryu clones on this game and honestly, Ryu is one of the weaker ones. Ken, Sakura, and Akuma all dominate him.
But I must say that opening shot of Cammy's amazing ass in her Thong of Death in her fight intro is inspired and reminded me of happy parts of my childhood.
on the contrary, Ryu is the strongest of the Shotokans to use in this game. The game is balanced, but there is still a Tier system for each of the characters and how they rank against each other. Sagat probably being the best because of his zoning with his high and low fireballs in addition to his Tiger Knee, which has esssentially a start up animation that in good hands can be really unpredictable. All in all it really depends on how you use each of the players.
Its been a month since this game came out and I've been playing alot on xbox live, ive had to switch from using any character who involved using a d,df,f motion because the xbox controller suck ass. to using characters with a charge based motion in their moveset. it makes you have to play more defensively and dont run the risk of pulling off a move you didn't want to that opens you up.
im stil waiting for the next batch of madcatz fight pads or arcade sticks to come out at the end of this month or early next month. then i will really tear it up.
there are some bugs im noticing that i hope get cleaned up in future patches. but all in all im still lovin this game.