Because by itself it wouldn't be worth $10. What a disappointment, shorter then HL2 E1, just when you think your about halfway through the game it's over. On the other hand portal will take much longer and challenge you more.  

I heard portal takes 2 hours and ep2 takes 3.. Im not going to get either until there's a black box lol, which is never

Wow. I guess the law of sequels sucking Hasn't lost yet. The one exception is Halo 2 of course

Halo 2 obeys the law of sequels.  

I think that level 18 "where I am at now" could possibly add an hour all on its own in Portal.
 
lolol

 
The classical counterexamples to the law of sequels not sucking are from Blizzard and Nintendo, probably because they are structured to resist scheduling and business pressures on the creative and development process.  Blizzard does this with a commitment to quality, and polish, and by treating release dates as wishful thinking.  Nintendo does this with the power of obliviousness.
 
 

What about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze??
 
That's gotta be up there too!

NOTE: moderate spoilers contained below
 

Actually, EP2 is not shorter than EP1.  It's at least as long, maybe a bit longer, and the fight sequences are also less scripted/linear.  I played through it at a moderate pace (not rushing, but not wasting time either) and it took me five hours.  From what I remember of EP1 (played it a year ago), I was bored with it, whereas EP2 was more like HL2 in terms of continuous action.  The car segment took up around 1/3 of the game.
 
As for the game ending suddenly, I have to ask, how good are your listening/viewing comprehension skills?  Could there have possibly been a more epic battle than the strider assault on the missile silo?  As soon as the fight was over it was obvious that they couldn't top that in the same game.  That climax was difficult to miss.  When the characters, particularly Eli, got all emotional after the launch, it was obvious that the game was winding down to a conclusion.  It also was not far fetched to guess what the conclusion would be since they'd been continually hinting at it since HL2.  Think about every time Alyx and Eli spoke to each other and think of everything that happened to each of them.  After finishing the cave area in EP2, it was obvious what had to happen for this game's story segment to be complete.
 
Even if you hate the gameplay and story, look at what they improved for EP2.  The graphics have been overhauled with some new textures and shaders, enough so that an X1900XT is no longer enough for maximium settings.  The physics engine is now multithreaded, which they exploited with more complex particle/debris systems.  EP2 is all-around nicer to look at than HL2, and definitely nicer than EP1 which had paifully bad HDR.
 
With all this said, I agree with the metacritic rankings for these games: EP1<EP2<HL2.
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/halflife2
http://www.metacritic.com/games/pl [...] episodeone
http://www.metacritic.com/games/pl [...] e2episode2
 
Anyone who bought Orange Box got a good deal because all the included games are excellent.  EP2 is definitely worth $10.  I already own HL2 and EP1, I didn't really want Portal, and I can't play TF2 because the internet here at school is terrible, so I bought EP2 by itself for $30.  I am completely satisfied with my purchase, and I actually started playing it a second time yesterday so I can go more slowly and get all the achievements.

My listening/viewing comprehension skills are excellent, I knew exactly what was happening, and it doesn't change my opinion. EP1 and    
EP2 were both way too short for the amount of development  time  they had and unsatisfying.                    

I have been plaing this game since Half Life and so far have thoroughly enjoyed the entire series. I for one prefer the Eposodic releases as they allow them to enhance, change or upgrade the game faster. You have to look at these ar expansion packs.
 
Most games have one maybe two expansion packs that cost $25-$30 dollars that normally don't do as much as these do. Most will add something new maybe a new story to complete but none that compel like this.
 
Besides continuing the story, they add so many new features like new enemies that aren't a bunch of pushovers. The Hunters themselves are amazing and if you pay attention to the last battle against the Striders, if you try to kill the Striders without taking the Hunters out first they destroy the Magneson devices before you can shoot them. That for one amazes me that and enemy will do something like that over just shooting you.
 
The physics in E2 have been amazingly enhanced especially for dual/quad core CPUs. When the Striders destroy a building the effects are amazing.
 
In terms of length, E1 took me roughly 6 hours to complete and E2 took me 8-9 hours to complete. I even just completed it again with the commentary which was very amazing. In comparison, It took me roughly 99 hours to beat Oblivion but the Shivering Isles expansion pack took me roughly 2 hours to complete. It was $10 dollars less but still 2 hours is not that long but the expanssion was enjoyable.
 
So I guess its all dependant on the person. I love all of HL2 so far and can't wat till the conclusion in E3. I just hope we can get more of a detailed explination on who the G-Man is and what he is as he seems to not be limited by time or space.

I agree, the new enemies are good, and the new physics are awesome.  Having the Hunters in that final battle put a large focus on using the vehicle as a weapon.  It was much easier to run down the Hunters with the car and then deal with the Striders afterwards.  It made the overall gameplay mechanic different since commonly encountered enemies were too strong to deal with conventionally.  You had to rethink your tactics a bit.  The best part of all is that the fight took a while, but wasn't repetetive enough to get annoying.  That's a problem that too many new FPS games suffer from IMO, and this one did not.
 
I also cannot wait for EP3.  I hope it continues the trend of excellence.

I found Episode 2 to be longer, and a lot more enjoyable than Episode 1.  

Your joke is perfect with the Halo reference.

 
I love the Orange Box, especially the price.
 
I'm so sorry you feel you can't afford $10 for Ep2. Donated too much money to your Halo God already?

Anyone who didn't purchase the Orange Box, and who has any interest in HL at ALL, was a complete fool.
 
Even if you owned HL and Episode 1, the addition of Portal, TF2 and Episode 2 made the buy completely worth the price. CaptBFG... IMO you should have purchased the Orange Box because you're not going to be at school forever and once you move somewhere with a better internet connection you'll be hating yourself for not having TF2 already downloaded and ready to go.
 
With the O Box, Valve really demonstrated how superior they are to most any other software developer.

 
Yes cause everyone has spare cash just laying around. He's a student!!! and I am on benefits, also have just had an op on my left hand which means I shouldnt even be on my computer. At the end of the day if people prefer not to spend money they dont have or choose to just buy Ep 2 it is their parogotive and what gives you the right to judge people anyway?

I actually like EP2 more than EP1. I actually played EP2 first, and after I went back to EP1, I was kind of disappointed. EP2 storyline is great, and the graphics are AMAZING! The lighting effects alone make the game like 30x more creepy in the dark. Movable physics (as well as static) objects cast shadows under the flashlight and they actually look good . There is also a solid story line, so you never wonder wtf just happened. (Even if you skip EP1 and go straight to EP2 like me)
 
Portal is pretty hilarious, but not all that long. Took me maybe 2-3 hours to finish it from start to finish. There are bonus maps though, which are crazy hard.
 
TF2. I didn't like it AT FIRST. It felt way to fast paced for my taste, but I eventually learned what classes I liked and now I dominate in the game. Sniper and Spy, baby!
 
If that isn't enough, they throw in EP1 and the full version of HL:2 and even allow you to give your original copy of HL:2 to a friend (if you owned hl:2 previous to Orange Box)

Only sequel worth is the Indiana Jones, and its not even **** game.

 
couldn't have said it better myself! seriously.
 
I found ep1 to be rather weak especially the strider battle at the end, not that is was a bad game, it was good but it seemed like it was missing something.  
 
and for people that didn't get the orange box you guys are fools... unless you didn't like any Half-life at all.
I would have paid 60$ for hl2:ep2 by itself but to combine it with 5 other games?!?! if you try to use the excuse that "he's a student" or "i'm on disibility"  THAT IS B.S. (until recently) I was a student, not only was I a student but I also support my wife. I scrimped and saved every cent to my name and ended up spending 100$(CAD) on half-life 2 when it first came out (it was the collectors edition) worth every penny and I did this all on min. wage while pumping gas. it's great, since I already owned hl2, ep1 and hl2: dm this will be nice I can set up a second account for deathmatch when friends come over to LAN it up. Then that leaves me with 2 christmas presents already bought and paid for  not to mention how cool portal is along with TF2 which has an intresting learning curve but a great game none-the-less.
 
my dreams in life include working at Valve. (which after 5 more years of schooling will come true, just wait you'll see)
 
HALF-LIFE 4 LIFE!

I thought Episode 2 was great. Some people are to critical and dont stop to smell the roses. The graphics were great, and I found it much less confusing than previous HL games. The game was about perfect in length. And if you're complaining about development time, go try to make a 5 hour game, hell even throw in a bunch of buddies to help, its still gonna take a huge-ass long time. At Valve, no one works on one thing all the time, that huge time you waited was the combined development time of Portal, TF2, Ep2, and who knows what else that Valve is making.