I'd agree with that... Doom 3 WAS good, but it was not GREAT. Half-Life 2 is just excellent, a worthy sequel to my previously favorite FPS game (now the spot is occupied by HL2). I got it tuesday, and had it beaten by thursday. I just could not get away from the game. And about the engine: the Source engine is pretty nice. Very forgiving on older hardware. I was able to run HL2 at 1280x1024 with 4x AA and 8x aniso and stay at 50-70 fps for most of the game (only a few spots where many pixel shading routines are used did it ever drop below). That is something I cannot say for my 9800 Pro in Doom 3. I had to run that game at 1280, but without AA and only 2x aniso. While the graphics engine is technically inferior to Doom3's in practice the game HL2 looks better to my eyes. The facial animation, incredible textures used on the models, and the physics engine more than make up for the lack of fully dynamic lighting (which made Doom 3 so special). Now, though, we can't forget Counter-Strike: Source! That is a great 'freebie' that will hook you for years and it comes with HL2...
