While a lot of Syntax Error's flaws in the game are true, I still liked HL2. Personally I think nearly every game Valve makes is overrated, although I still enjoy them . HL1 is somewhat dated at this point, and I'd only really recommend it for historical purposes or if you're a huge fps fan. HL2 holds up fine today. Oddly enough, the first time I played it I wasn't too into it, then I played it again a few years later and I really enjoyed it. The boating sequence is a drag, the load times are annoying, etc. Speaking of the gravity gun I get so sick of hearing about that...great you can pick things up and throw them. I guess it was revolutionary tech at the time but really after using it in the ravenholm level the novelty completely wore off, not sure why people go on and on about it. To summarize, overall though HL2 holds up fine, and although it probably isn't packed with as much raw fun as something like the new Wolfenstein game might be, it's still definitely worth playing, imho. HL1 not quite as much. Old shooters like Doom are still worth playing because of the gameplay contrast to modern shooters (the shoot everything circle strafe approach is pretty rare these days), but a big reason HL1 was a hit was because it was innovative and kind of got away from that, as it's one of the first games to represent the less chaotic, story focused shooters of today. It's not bad but there are better ways to spend 15 hours or so of your time.
