I thought the Reach graphics where actually pretty stunning but then again i only had experience with COD and halo 3 previos to this so not much competition (COD graphics leave ALOT to be desired for, especially with their blocky colours and limmited pallet, sorta gives you a head ache if you play it for too long (but thats good for parents) lol )
Anyway, the H4 graphics are very very good. ALMOST photo realistic, but not quite. The artists have put hours and hours of work into this game and what a good job they have done. With COD simple "copy and paste" idea of game release with only minimal editing and slight graphics ugrades (sometimes de-grades (black ops 1) ), COD has about 10 years before it can even start to think of matching that of H4.
If 343 carry on this way with their graphics then by the time H5 comes out, the xbox is going to need an upgrade, either in the form of a compleatly new console (Xbox 720) or the form of a graphics card!
Can't wait to actually play the game and look for tiny detailings, such as rock joints (normaly there is a slight blur in the patter in the area where a rock is bent or phased into another rock) or armour/weapon scratches