my verdict on the characters I've tried until now:
Blanka: my main of SF4 has returned stronger than ever. His cross-up, hops, jump-ins and Ex-ball make him a great rushdown character. While his Upball and lightening make him a great turtling character. What he lacks in combo's he makes up in strategy.
Hit and run and when you got that life lead, sit in the corner, eat a sandwich and wait for them to make a mistake.
Dudley: What a beast. Good speed, great specials moves and brutal normals. He's gonna be a player in this game.
Elena: She's just a weird character that's nothing like her SF3 counterpart. She lost her healing and her insane throws. I think she's gonna be a nasty mix-up character with a weird jumping arc, but it's not gonna be enough.
Jack-X: love him. A giant zoning character, Dhalsim on steroids. He's fun and very powerful,but damn does his close range combat suck. Good anchor character but Kazuya, Ryu and Rufus are going to murder you with their normals/combo's.But he does one thing right DAMAGE. Ending a combo with lp DP, lp DP, Super is insane
Sakura: best incarnation ever IMHO. She's made for this game. High damaging and long combo's, good at opening people up and a glass jaw.
Bryan: too combo-heavy for my taste, but better than I first expected. He has potential, but is still pretty slow
Alisa: A very mobile version of Gouken. I like her playstyle, but I don;t know if she's very gimmicky or if she's gonna be legit. She can zone plus attack and I like those characters.