Side step feels a awful like the one in Virtua Fighter 3. I really don't have a problem with it.
P.S
Looks like they might of nerfed it with this patch that just hit.
All fighting games are this way though. You should know that. The only exception I can think of is Soul Calibur 1, which was a significant departure from Soul Edge/Blade. Every other fighting game (particularly 3d ones) are relatively the same each entry.