Yes, graphics wise it is dated. Gameplay wise it wins by a country mile still. Which is kind of sad considering when this game came out....

Again i have to say that i think it's starting to show age. No doubt it was pretty advanced but you have to remember they've been updating the game regularly since it came out. I remember when it first came out it had the same horrible vehicle controls from half life 1. (it was a little better but not much)

So i doubt we will end up in a agreement regarding this because i can definately call out better games without regarding a game as good just because it was when it came out. New shooters has a lot better gameplay mechanics than half life 2, although not much has actually changed since then.. it's all about execution. That was also where half life 2 was very good, but it's also where you can see it's age quite clearly.

As I understand it HL3 as a story is the episodes - i.e we have 66% so far with the rest still to come.

I have to say I'm surprised people quote the game as aging - graphics aside its set-pieces, physics, etc. still dwarf today's titles.

COD4 is great but to me terribly limited to focus on a controlled experience. Everything is glued down, physics is limited,set pieces seem overly staged, etc.

With Source engine you still have the best integrated physics in an FPS I've seen, coupled with the best SP set pieces, varied gameplay, characters, etc.

But then I judge offline higher than online and that puts me in a different category from many gamers today.

Yes, the same category as me. I hate playing online because of so many things so I require a solid SP from my games.

I remember reading something coming out of Gabe's big mouth along the lines of:
"We've built a great infrastructure with HL2 and we still have a lot of ideas and written material we want to polish and turn into gameplay, so it would be a pity to have to wait for HL3 before we make that content available."
And thus the 3 episodes were born, because I think it was planned since the start as a trilogy of episodes.

During the hiatus between HL1 and the conception of HL2, many people asked why Valve didn't just churn out a sequel as most software houses do. And the answer was that they wanted to raise the bar a lot with each new installment, that they were not interested into "more of the same".
It could take some time before we see a HL3, but it's one of those rare games that is already sold for me :)

What vehicle controls did Half-Life 1 have apart from pressing forward and back to move a train that's on rails?