Sure you can; for me, HL2 was so boring that I was glad when I had finally finished it and could push the 'uninstall' button. Not even Barney could save the day for me, and I'm a day one HL1 and Barney fan
.
I heard that Ep1 had a higher entertainment factor, but somehow... I just don't know. I have serious trouble liking any of today's shooters. Even Doom3 grossed me out, and I'm a Doom fan. Looks like my days as a SP FPS player are over for good *shrugs*.
Anyhoo, since I didn't play Ep1 for abovementioned reasons (fear of wasting what little game time I nowadays have with a game I might not enjoy at all), I'm not going to play Ep2, either. But since the original TF was my long-time favorite multiplayer game (only to be toppled by DoD later on), I'll definitely check out TF2. Even though my hardcore MP FPS times are over as well. But I
so long to return to 2fort! Call it nostalgia
.