That would be an awsome argument if it wasn't possible to pick stuff up with your hands in HL2.
Which it is.
Oh, yeah, the weapons were awsome, and I loved the different vision types for facing different hostiles, focing you to specialise. The point was that while it was great having all of these in such a unique package and arangement, each one, on its own, is still pretty generic when it comes to guns in games and their roles. In terms of their effects, all those guns could easily fit into a Turok game (which also has a very nice selection of firearms), and people wouldn't even bat an eyelid. Though come to think of it, Turok was another game with 'generic' weapons that were still damned fun to use.
But yeah, you're right, great game with some great weapons in it.