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I just finished this game and avoided this thread ferociously until doing so. I thought this was great. The cliffhanger is probably the motive dujour, from what I understand with the ending of Halo 2 as well.
Many forms of story telling in the non-gaming world rely on cliffhangers. Hell, most TV shows have cliffhangers at the end of their season. It's more compelling to me than having it be episodic and self contained. Especially with IP of this nature, some sort of continuity should be preserved between games. Else, why should we care about those involved? Unless Valve pulls some bullshit like Alien 3 and kills off everyone except Gordon, I find myself pleasantly waiting for the next chapter.
Paraphrasing what xerraire1 said, it sounds like people weren't spoonfed the story and they're upset by that. The game wanted you to explore and figure out what was going on. Did anyone ask questions like, what's up with this city and the way it encroaches on the rest of the natural city? What the hell was that thing Breen was talking to at the end? How did the world get this way? If the story continues in this universe, answers will be given. I, personally, am looking forward to that. Glimpses of enemies that we only see for a fraction of a second? It's called foreshadowing.
If you've ever read Neil Gaiman's comic Sandman, you'll find story arcs beginning with seemingly inconsequential events, that upon reflection, make the whole universe deeper and more fulfilling. I suspect that by the end of Half-Life's complete story arc, there will be a rich universe to contemplate.
Quite frankly, I was relieved that they didn't make me do some "run out of the exploding building" bullshit that I've seen in many other games. In this case, I'll take a little deus ex machina.
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