Eh, what can I say it's really about whether your a fan of the series or not..
Graphics: 9/10
Pretty amazing graphics, which is expected from Epic Games, from the cinematic views of Jacinto, to the wastelands of the underground locust stronghold, you will gaze in awe. The only downside is in Multiplayer where there has been some graphical issues, that will be fixed eventually.
Gameplay: 7/10
The game makes great use of the whole 3rd-person scheme especially when you aim, you look over the shoulder of the character. Although there aren't that many weapons, there still pretty effective if you know how to use them. But then again that's the problem.... I have played at least over 50 + matches over Live and all I can say is wow... not the good wow, the bad wow WTF type...
You'll notice when you get into a match that the only way to survive is to either two-piece(melee then shoot w/ a shotgun pointblank) or blindly spray with your lancer. Other then that pretty good...
Customization: 8/10
At least this part was good. you have your standard war zone(team death match), execution ( team death match with 1 shot kills or executions(curb stomps, etc)), King of the hill (self explanatory if you have played other online shooters), and more. Whats interesting is the new modes like Guardian (each team has 1 leader, if they die the team cant re spawn), Submission (one neutral NPC that you need to knock down and carry as a meat shield back to your base), Wing man ( 5 teams of 2 people that work together and play the same character, who try to kill the other "tag teams"), and lastly my favorite: Horde( the 5-player co-op mode where the five people have to survive all 50 waves of locust with fortunately, re-spawning ammo) Overall one of the best features.
Length/Durability: 5-9/10
The reason I'm giving this such a "wth?" type of score is that it all depends on preference, the campaign is pretty short so you'll spend most of your time in multiplayer, for some people, that's what they want, endless multiplayer, while others like myself wanted a little more..
Community: 8/10
I'm actually surprised how little arrogance was in this game, besides the occasional 7-15 yr old yelling and swearing, or drunk 25 or 30/ whatever person cussing endlessly, there were some pretty nice people, compared to Halo3, but... then again pretty much any any popular franchise will have nuisances..
Conclusion: 8.5
I know this was a pretty lengthy review, but Im just stating what I know of playing probably about 75 hours... A great sequel to a great franchise, and although there are some things in this game that might intimidate new ppl from the franchise, fans will absolutely love it.