Yeah, the only quirk is that HL2 “open sections” suffer from the same problem.
The only exception being EP2 Strider battle.
Silent Cartographer felt pretty fucking open, as did the mountain sections, both snowy and grassy ones. Dunno what are you talking about.
Halo 2 had pretty good open sections too.
Plus, to be honest, too much open space =/= always good for a story driven video game. It gets boring much faster than fast paced linear action, as the likes of HL and Halo. I honestly can’t stand the likes of Oblivion and fallout 3 for more than 2-3 days of gameplay.
Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.