oh no, Professional...you aren't paying the same for less content. there's more there. in the games you refer to, there wasn't jack SHIT in the levels. It just didn't take nearly as long to MAKE those games back then, so they put in tons of levels.
NOW, it takes a lot of work to make one hour of gameplay. I went thru the hoverboat section, and by the end, I couldn't imagine the time it took just to make THAT part...and it was mostly devoid of NPC interaction.
How about the part where you learn to use the Gravity gun? sure, it lasts all of a couple minutes, but the work that must have gone into it is almost absurd.
It's all in the details, Prof....you know, the parts you don't pay attention to.