"Get half life if you love pushing crates and trying to figure out physics puzzles."
You obviously haven't played Half-Life 2 if you think that's what it is about. 99.9% of the game has nothing to do with physics puzzles, I can only remember one. The physics is there for fun.
"Do I need to know the story of Half Life 1 in order to pick up on 2?"
Hardly. Though if you want to be extra, just look up the story on Wikipedia.
"But in this case, it would be better for me. Still, if there's no reason to not enjoy the first Half Life, then maybe I'll give it a whirl."
Since you don't like FPS games I suggest you start with HL2. I don't really like FPS games either, but HL2 is still one of my favourite games of all time.







