I thought the game was rather well laid out. The fact that you didnt know what was really going on story wise untill the very end was what keept me playing, I wanted to know what the deal was. I think you guys are right that they did borrow things from different games, but I also think it would next to impossible for the developers not to. Think of how many games are out there in the world already, then think of making a new game. Someone in the world is always going to say "they ripped off that from *insert game name here*"
It would be almost impossible to make a game and have it so unique that everything is 100% theirs, after all a FPS is an FPS and I doubt they will ever change that much.
Back to the game, lol. I agree the vehicle levels got bleh after awhile. After driving that air boat I was all "man im glad that's over, now on with the game and i hope no more vehicle levels". Then the Buggy level and i was all " damnit , not another one". The part I liked the most was actually 2 different levels. I liked the prison level, breaking in was great. I also liked the level at the end where you had to break in to the building ( I think it was a library) and kill the generators.
Now I don't mean to compare games here, but HL2 IMO was great beacuse you could see that you were doing. Doom3 on the other had was so dark I had trouble in some levels seeing. I know Doom3 was supposed to be a Dark Scary freakshow, but I got annoyed with the darkness. Doom3 on the other hand seemed to have wicked lighting effects and scare tactics that would make you crap in your pants. HL2 never got me scared like Doom3 did, but it did make me think more in order to advance along in the game. ( like pileing up bricks on a teedering board so i can make a jump)
Over all I think HL2 was Amazing and I can't wait to see a HL3
Doom3 was also amazing and I guess each game has its place in the industry and gamers hearts.
I can't really bash or say anything bad about them though because both were done very well for what they were supposed to be
I think right now is a great time to be a gamer. Back in the early 90's we went through a technology transistion in the gaming industry and got our first FPS games like Castle Wolfinstein and Doom. I think we are going through this again with Games like Doom3 and HL2 because of the advancement of the gaming engines abilities. It's great to be a gamer and I can't wait to see what the sick minds of future game developers come up with next