Well it's like a handy tool for those who don't own or want to play through the original Mass Effect game yet again, to have it's effect on Mass Effect 2. I don't see it as anything special...Just handy and time saving for adding all the decisons you made in the orignial in Mass Effect 2.
You pretty much summed up how I feel about Genesis. My only gripe with it is that it only covers the major decision points for Mass Effect 1.
Another thing I noticed with the Genesis DLC is that when you are playing the game you don't have to wait to do someones loyalty mission to get access to the upgrade they provide you with.
you never had to wait to do a loyalty mission for the upgrades, just speek to the character and ask about upgrades. they will show you the upgrade they have for you and you can choose to research that upgrade there and then
Just the other day I played Mass Effect 2 with the Genesis DLC installed using an import of a save from Mass effect 1. As the interactive comic played itself out when it go to a decision point since I was playing with an imported save it didn't ask me for a decision and it used the decison from the imported save.
But for some reason when it got to the point where you decide who to appoint to the council it stopped and prompted me to make a decison.
I played the game this way using two different saves from Mass Effect 1 and what I described above happened both times.
strange, i've just imported a character from ME1 to ME2 and the genisis comicbook didn't kick in. it only works with a new character.
still i believe genisis was a waste of money as it only allows a few key choices from ME1. there are many other choices from ME1 that carry into ME2. such as the asari you meet in virmire and feros. saving colonists, internal affairs agent on noveria. plus messages you could recieve from people you met in ME1. i havnt yet played through ME2 compleately from using genisis yet but i doubt you get these extras from genisis. all it seems you get is who you have a relationship with, who dies on virnire, do you save the rachni queen, do you save the council, and who you pick to join the council. i doubt you get other benifits like importing a highly ranked character or a rich character. i think its better to play ME1 to get the best from ME2 and possibly ME3 when it is released.