honestly its probably the best fighting game ive ever played. only thing that takes getting used to is hitting the L button to change between weapon styles in order to finish 10+ hit combos. to address the d-pad only controls, i think it would be extremely hard to pull off certain moves using the control stick. i like how they did the konquest mode so you can learn all of the characters moves quite easily, and it gives you koins to unlock new characters, concept art, levels, costumes, etc. just my opinion, but i rented deadyl alliance and i was very impressed