Yeah, the way the weapons look, sound, act, shoot and feel has always been mediocre in HL. It just lacks this real feeling to it, this "push" but it's not bad either, just not great.
The worst part of HL2 is closer towards the end I believe, the Strider ambush, it's just too hard. Another weird part is also somewhere there, with a single Strider on the road and the only place to hide is the building, so one has to rush there before he gets killed in order to beat it... then...
I recall there being a thread about how ugly Gordon is. I disagree, he is neither hot/handsome or ugly, he just look like an ok ordinary guy with lots of charm. Just look at his facial expression on the 4th pic, it's like:
Alyx: "Damn! Gordon, we are done for!!!"
Gordon: "10 Hunters? bit*...
Who told you that nonsense that they are using a Source not available at the moment and new? They are just using a branch newer than the Orange Box one, likely Portal 2 engine.