This is one of those games that feels like it was made specifically for me. Pretty much everything it does is exactly the sort of thing I love in a game. The music is consistently great, from the area themes, boss themes (especially Elvis's theme), and the completely ridiculous credits theme. The visuals are well done too. Environments can be somewhat bland at times, but the absurd character designs and incredibly satisfying animation more than makes up for it. Level design is shockingly varied, with more wide open stages, to linear stages, to mini-boss focused levels or stages with more out-there gimmicks that keep things fresh. The combat is incredibly tight and satisfying. The customizability of it is very rewarding to experiment with, and led to a lot of fun finding ways to maximize my damage output and keep my options open. By the end I could pull of crazy combos while splicing in guard breakers and then end it off with a super long juggle combo. The combat is greatly enhanced by the loud and powerful sound design, which really drives the impact of combat home. The story is fairly enjoyable, especially since it just exists to keep up the dumb tone and make stupid jokes. Some jokes don't work too well, but the tone is always kept intact. The challenge is an interesting thing to note as well. I find that just progressing through the game is usually not THAT hard, excluding some annoying bosses here and there. However, mastering this game is a truly herculean feat I will likely never accomplish. I feel like I could keep getting better and better at this game over time, which makes the prospect of a future replay sound fun. In short, this is everything I want in a game.
Difficult? Check. Simple with hidden depth? Check. Room for Mastery and experimentation? Check. Fast Pace, Stupid Tone, Great music? Check. This game rocks.