Thing is, when the game is running at 60 and drops to 25-30 that is what I would call noticable slowdown, especially when there is a lot going on, which makes it even more noticable. Any yes, I owned the game, so I did happen to play it
Rereading, I didn't notice that he had said he'd never played it, so that was totally my bad. Pimp, rent it. Or play a friends, or something like that. There are XBox Kiosks at all the best buys and places like that. I wouldn't get it without checking it out first, thats like buying a car right off the lot.