I've had the Orange Box for ages and am still working on finishing Half Life 2. I have only really played it in bursts on and off.

I realised that a reason for this was my utter dislike of the mission Water Hazard. Atmospherically it is really cool, helicopter attacks, mad jumps, crazy dash for safety. I appreciate it on that level.

But man, the gameplay in that section just sucks. The hovercraft handles like crap. It's not always clear where the hell you should be going. You have to find things and explore to work out where to go, but you get shot at and die and don't have two bloody second to think. The jumps are too finicky. it just plays awfully.

I am powering through the game once I decided to suck it up and just tough out that section, and I'm finding myself getting back into Half Life 2, although the engine is beginning to feel dated now.

Anyone else hate this level? Or did it have many fans who I have now offended

You have offended me greatly.

No, but in all seriousness, the boat handles badly because, well, it's a boat.  I have a friend whom I convinced to buy the Orange Box, and he also loathed that portion, though I loved every adrenaline-soaked minute of the helicopter chase. 

RE: Dated Engine:

Maybe I'm just nostalgic, but I think Half-Life 2 still plays better than half of the first-person shooters that are released today.  You may just be one of the crowd for which the Half-Life games didn't catch, and that's okay, because it really isn't for everyone. But the people who get it (I don't mean understand so much as I mean intuitively connect with the game) love the shit out of it.

Moreover, if this is your first time through the game, expect to feel like you're progressing by the seat of your pants.  Valve is good at designing levels that subtly key you in on the direction you ought to be moving, and this means you're going to be wandering aimlessly a few times, because sometimes their directing is too subtle (I can tell you're going to love Ravenholm, hardy-hardy-har). 

With regards to the 'dated engine' I don't mean to imply that I dislike the way Half Life 2 handles. It's more that I forgot what Valve games handled like as it had been quite some time since I'd played any games in that engine. I loved CS, Day of Defeat and Half Life 1. I just didn't think that Half Life 2 changed or evolved the engine enough in the way that it handles, but that's also because I came to enjoy the way other FPS' such as CoD4 handled.

I actually really like the way the engine handles for Team Fortress 2, and Portal is one of the most ingenious and amazing games I have played ever. I think the engine just irritated me in the way it handled in that particular section I disliked so much.

Though I don't have that intuitive connection with the game that others have. I think it is a better PC FPS engine than a console one. For me personally Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark set the standard for how Console FPS' should handle

I think the engine just irritated me in the way it handled in that particular section I disliked so much.

Though I don't have that intuitive connection with the game that others have. I think it is a better PC FPS engine than a console one. For me personally Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark set the standard for how Console FPS' should handle

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