Rising has very little to do with past games in the franchise.
There are a few running jokes you'll miss, but nothing that's going to detract from the experience.
The game itself is a character action game.
The biggest unique feature being the slicing-people-into-ketchup ability (Zandatsu).
It's a pretty reasonable PC port, but it has ass keyboard/mouse controls, so a controller is basically required.
They also included all the DLC from the console release at no extra charge (Though you have to beat the game once to unlock some of it)
It's a little on the short side, but I can certainly recommend it to anyone who likes Spectacle fighters.
The camera can be a little wonky at times, but overall it's a blast.