>>5368741
i hated it the first time through, but it's grown on me since. the gunplay is decent, not as good as hl2 what with all the bullet sponge enemies, but it works for the somewhat slower pace. weapon variety is not stellar but has some neat stuff like the tau cannon, mines, and snarks, but nothing feels useless. the story isn't as heavy as it's made out to be, the only unskippable story related parts are the very beginning and end, the rest is just npc dialogue you can fully ignore. it's not a mindblowing cum-in-your-pants good story, but it's enjoyable and kept my attention. the lack of a sequel doesn't matter much as in my opinion hl1's story works just fine as a standalone.
not a whole lot in the way of exploring as it's pretty linear, but there's a good amount of item stashes tucked away and the levels are well made and not too simplistic. it's got less puzzles than hl2, it's usually just "move some boxes to jump up here" or "go find the button to turn on this generator so you can advance in the other direction".
difficulty wise it's pretty solid if you play on hard, the hitscan enemies are pretty annoying but not impossible if you keep in mind this isn't as much of a run and gun game as doom or quake. imo the last couple chapters are way too easy but a lot of people complain about the platforming and the sub boss so idk.
overall i'd say it's a pretty good game, but if you go in expecting doom/quake style gameplay and trying to play it as such you're gonna be disappointed