I don't mind their depiction, because if anything it screams to me that they have a lot to learn, and that we should expect them at some point to be humbled. Maybe I'm just being optimistic though. It depends upon where 343 takes the story and their whole man/machine theme.
Honestly it seems like their general terribleness is kind of the point, like they're exaggeratedly bad to show just how great the Spartan IIs and IIIs really were.