so if actual videos of the gameplay show that it looks great, who are we likely to believe?  

I think it has mostly been single player that people have been looking at. However, I have not seen the game running on anything larger than my 15" screen, and the video has not been in high quality, so I am going to wait until I get the game running on a proper screen

EDITL with a high quality source

I really hope they give more beta keys during this week.

 im confident that for what is going on on-screen, the graphics will be great.

The beta build graphics are several steps below the gameplay videos that have been released.  I don't know if this is a different build or if mp will be substantially less polished than the single player experience.  There are some very poor textures in this build.  The character models, cars, and fire effects are subpar.  The water effects are really good with the exception that the water doesn't react when a character is moving in it(this is a bug).  The water looks great when you shoot it or drop a grenade in it. 

60 player TDM is too chaotic at the moment.  It is a lot of fun, but you end up running around by yourself.  The squad system could work, but there are too many people that run off by themselves. 

Don't get too close to anything on fire.  It is hard to tell how close you are and you will catch on fire very easily.  It is not uncommon to see a teammate running around on fire.

Negatives

HUD is too big, character models need some work, some textures need to be improved, spawning points need work(you can spawn in the middle of a battle), and fire. 

Positives
I like the xp system a lot.  It is an improvement over the COD4 system.  Beserks (similar to perks) work well also.  The sound effects are pretty good.  I like the barking sound you make as a chimera.  I like the new venting system.  R1 Vent hovering was BS in my opionion.  The control layout has changed for the better(still fully customizeable).  I like the map layouts.  They are big but offer good choke points and accomadate the larger battles.  The weapons are great but they do need some balancing.  I primarily use the bullseye, but I like the feel of the marskman as well.

I am buying this game on day 1.  The multiplayer is a lot of fun despite some of my negative feedback.  I am not sure that this is the graphical powerhouse that we thought but it is a lot of fun. 

If the beta is a near final build of the game then it will average out between 8 - 8.5

mine still hasn't downloaded, I am just going to have to leave it on overnight

this build is the same build the closed beta testers used i think. which is a few months old. 

@Doats1 - The closed beta testers indicate this is a different build.  This may be an older build or it may have been modified because it is a download.  Just be prepared, this build is not a graphical powerhouse.  R2 has a lot of color in it, some people have complained that it looks "cartoonish."  I don't mind the color, but the character models and some textures leave a bit to be desired.  I am disappointed with the graphics, but not with the gameplay.  I think this will be a very good online game.  Hopefully the final build will have the polish and quality of the gameplay videos we have seen.

yay I went tup a level

Can I just point out that the Halo 3 BETA also looked like absolute shit, and some models/textures were comparable with those of Halo 2.

What I'm saying is that devs sometimes use lower quality textures and shit to cut down on download size. Bearing in mind that BETAs are really intended for bug finding first, marketing tool second (though the LBP BETA was the reverse of this).