This is such an upgrade compared to ep1 it's actually insane. The little over 4 hour experience I had in this game was more enjoyable than all of hl1 and that is insane. The level and mission design is so more iconic than ep1 and the new gimmicks also are so much more enjoyable to play around with. The ending too is just insane. The last hour experience is probably my favourite sequence of missions in a HL game. If you haven't played this game, whether you just haven't gotten around to it a bit or were turned off by the kinda underwhelming experience of ep1, playing this game should be your top priority as it is so barely close to being as good as HL2