Ok well I'm going to start by being a douche and saying that I don't believe Orange Box sucked, just the Half-Life part of it. Chew on that.
To elaborate in a less jerk off way, I played Half-Life 2 many years after the fact and I can see why it, at the time, would've been viewed in the light which people cast it. Frankly though, it is too linear, too easy, and (my biggest qualm) it was just never ending. The drama and oppression of trying to escape wore off and it feels like the game still expects me to care. Plus the silent protagonist thing, usually kind of annoying in my opinion but would be much better if people didn't right off the bat liken me to Jesus Christ. If I become a badass in my own right, that's fine. But to apparently start out as one, something everybody knows, but with no context bothers me.
But as for the main topic, I can see why you don't like Black Ops. I personally enjoy it, as I've enjoyed every CoD, but I get the feeling that Black Ops isn't really a step forward from MW2. Maybe not a backwards one, but a sideways one. There wasn't much about it that was innovative and new in my opinion other than the maps and the weapons. It's kind of like they took the superior MW2 and applied it to a time period more akin to where CoD began. This in turn creates a good game with the feel of the original CoD games but ultimately, it doesn't feel a whole hell of a lot like an improvement. I have a friend who feels this way and refuses to get it. It's a totally justifiable argument except that he's a turd and doesn't own any CoD game because he's cheap. As someone who doesn't even own one, I don't think he has the right to complain that it doesn't improve on things because he can't ***** then say "I'd rather play the version I have." If you're that guy, the you deserve some ridicule, otherwise, you're school is filled with people whose 9mm rises with their "rank".