Worth the wait, not the hype.
The game's difficulty is pretty close to perfect. You can be well challenged by the AI in certain points, and the highest wanted rating is quite literally on the edge of impossible to get rid of. If you feel the game is to easy, there's tons of multiplayer options to play through.
My biggest, and only large complaint about the multiplayer is that there's no options for AI cops to hunt you down on the free roam lobby. That would have sold it, and I'd still be playing GTA instead of Halo. However, that option does not exist, so I still play Halo.
The campaign is fun, and hard to get off-track from. However, when you do get off track, you STAY off track. There's so much to do you could play for a good hundred hours and never even touch the storyline. It's an amazing game, but just short of perfect, and just short of the ten I wish I could give it.