Eww, HL2's characters were terrible. So joyful and happy, nothing interesting to say. Except for Dog and the Gman, which I'll admit were awesome.
Whatever HL2's strong points were, they weren't the story or characters. Story was basically ''aliens invade, Earth is enslaved, save humanity''.
Call me bitter, but I did not enjoy HL2 at all. Every other Valve game has been amazing in a lot of ways (Portal is brilliant, Left 4 Dead is fun, etc.), but not HL2.