I liked the game quite a bit, but I wouldn't say it's my game of the year. I doubt it will be in my top five. Playing through the opening areas on hard again showed me just how scripted and frustrating the beginning areas can be. Enemies that are already aggro when you enter the scene, boring chest-high wall shootouts, and awful level layout in the first few clicker areas shows just how great the game eventually gets.
Also, I hate how they introduce the bow given how powerful and fun it is. They give you a tutorial to use it on the first clicker you encounter, and it won't kill him in one shot. I thought, "Well, this is a useless piece of shit," and didn't touch it for around three hours. Then I used it out of desperation and without any upgrades it was one-shotting enemies at a decent range. That first clicker is designed to take more than one shot, which threw me off of the mechanic. That's the arbitrary stuff that really got to me while playing it.