Stayed up all night played Half Life 2: Episode 2. Also got in about 30 minutes of Portal before I realized the dialogue didn't decrypt properly.
I have both good and bad things to say about Episode 2, I'm nearly done, so I feel mostly confident in my stance. There are aspects of Valve's episodic approach that, even only after two episodes, feels a little formulaic. There are several things they introduce in Episode 1, slightly elaborate on in Episode 2, and then are leaving us to explore in Episode 3. It seems as if they're either: a) trying desperately to make sure we don't think they throw them in at the last minute or b) keep them fresh in our minds each episode with incremental teasers to try to tie everything together.
As episodes, they don't stand on their own feet very well, if at all, is the basis of what I'm saying. And as a single creation cut into pieces, it's just too damned busy. I also feel it lacks the attention to detail Half-Life 2 had. The G-man appearances, Kleiner's lab (mini-teleport, Kleiner's miscellaneous commentary on multiple things). Though the recurring "couple on the couch" gag is a detail I'm glad they're still keeping.
On the upside, gameplay is still top notch and pacing is among the best. I love the new creatures, scenes, encounters. There's a nice little ambush which is probably one of my favorite fights in shootan. The Hunters are incredibly epic for relatively common enemies and, trust me, the gameplay vids do them no justice, they've changed since then. They're not mini-striders or running turrets.