I didn't mind having more time with the blue gravity gun, yeah it's a bit mindless but I wanted a bit more time with it at the end of the base game anyway. But yeah basically everything you do in this game is something you've done before in the base title, except now Alyx is now invincible and does a lot of the work for you unlike how she and Barney were in the base game, making the expansion feel a lot less engaging.
The episode barely has any plot either. They set some shit up at the start of the game with Alyx getting the mysterious drive but then they leave that plot point a cliffhanger until Episode 2. Thank Fauci Valve at least got to Episode 2 before giving up otherwise this might be one of the worst cliffhangers in gaming history