I'm really disappointed with this game. If you're a half life 2 fan, definitely buy it, but don't expect too much.
This game really seemed to flow like a demo: It felt partial.. non-engaging. The puzzles were lame and a rehash. The worst part was that absolutely nothing new happened. Alex follows you around the entire game which was neat for about 10 minutes and then she became a pain. She wouldn't shut up for one thing and I could tell she was driving Gordon crazy. I really didn't like it because if I had run into a room or down some path and she wasn't there I had to wonder why she wasn't there and then run back and find out what she's doing. This knocks the exploration fun factor down quite a bit. Same weapons, same bad guys, same environment, same exact everything. There's a whole section where I have to walk around in the dark. This is just plain weak and it's insulting as a matter of fact. I thought we were beyond this cheeseball type of challenge?
At any rate, if this is how this whole episode thing is going to be, I'm not going to be happy about it. I'd much rather have a full new half life every 2 years than a cheeseball episode every 6 months. The story writers can't do certain things in these short episodes and that's a bummer for us. Yes, you get new technology as it becomes available, you get to play "new" levels more often, etc. but so what? I'd rather have one big full fine meal than a few small cheesey snacks.. it's an entirely different experience.