That's cool Elvis, not everyone likes the same thing.
HL2 is similar to its prequel in that it is linear and it is heavily scripted, but I don't mind that so long as it produces magic moments, which I think this game has. You get sections where it is fairly obvious where to go while other times it becomes quite difficult, (a la Ravenholme, I don't think you'll like that level).
Your right about the pistol, it is more accurate than it should be but I guess that's balanced by the fact that the submachine gun you get is not very accurate at all, so you can choose between spraying or accuracy, (but with less shots). Perhaps part of the problem is that Valve have just used the same weapons as Half Life and perhaps should have improved them a bit, (actually I lie, there are a few new ones). The Gravity gun is very fun to use, not useful in every occasion, but it's cool to pick up a metal table with it to sheild yourself from bullets or to hurl exploding barrels at enemies.
I guess it would be difficult to get to grips with Gordon Freemans scenario if you hadn't played the first one, hell I don't fully understand what's going on and I've played the first game several times. If you like I'll give you a quick synopsis:
Freeman worked at the Black Mesa facility, deep in the heart of the Nevada desert. An experiment went wrong, (or maybe right for some
), and alens started destroying the base coming from another dimension. You eventually destroy the Nihilinth, the aliens hive mind, in the alien world of Zen at which point it looks like the government have control of the aliens to use as they wish. Gordon wakes up in HL2 to find the world has been taken over by some despotic regime, which utilises aliens and alien technology to keep order. I think this shows in that some aliens are controlled, some are roaming free, while others have joined the resistance.
I don't know what purpose the G-Man serves and the above might be proved wrong as I haven't finished the game yet. Anyway, at least get through the boat level because I thought that was the most fun and really made the environment shine for me.