Free Step Dodge

Few things that can cause this. Certain levels do have graphical oddities. Forest, for example, has incredible amounts of screen tearing for reasons I've yet to determine. This blurs the image quite drastically.

Whether or not online effects this terribly im not sure, but there are going to be inconsistencies in animation smoothness based on the connection effecting the frame rate.

Another thing you should check is your TV itself. Assuming you're on an HDTV and not some ancient device, turn down your sharpness. Way down. It will blur the textures but the lack of detail will make it easier for your eye to discern solid movement.

Ahh gotcha. Certain water areas become pixelated and brown too at times. I sometimes detect Airplane carrier having these odd frame drops when both players are away from each other with the screen zooming out. Not really sure if it's common or could be just a one time thing that happened to me. The game shifts at a rare case.

Oh yeah I'm on HDTV. It's always been on default but I never actually thought of it as a case, I should probably adjust that a bit since you mentioned it.

Odd. Do you have the game installed?