Agreed. They skimped out and only made his mustache cut off in half rather than half of his face. Akainu also delivered a Hellbound attack straight to his gut with fire spewing out, and Whitebeard got up and did the aforementioned attack on Akainu.
For all the flaws in the way the anime has presented this arc, one thing they flat out nailed was Whitebeard. In fact, I'd say the anime does a better job at making him look badass than the manga did.