Satire over Substance.
When playing a game like this, you know the gameplay is going to be on the back-burner. The graphic style is fitting for the over-the-top story and characters in the game. There have been people knocking the graphics, and yes, sometimes it takes awhile to realize what you are looking at, but if this game were to look realistic, the humor wouldn't have worked out (Also look at: Psychonauts.)
This is one of the only games to really use satire. Due to the grueling man-hours it takes to make a game, games that are developed to make fun of a timely idea are usually crap (ie: Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire.) This particular game, which spent a lot of time in development, still has the gameplay for your standard "time-sensitive humor" faire. The highs are high: Cinematics, humor, poking fun at our administration
The lows are lows: Everything between the cinematics, humor, poking fun at our administration.