With the ever so powerful CPUs Intel and AMD are churning out, I am not sure whether a physics card would be necessary.
There's a limit to the amount of physics to process when you also have to run AI routines and a lot of other stuff on it at the same time. In the past, before 3D cards existed, the rendering would be run on the CPU as well.
Now I agree with you when you doubt it's usefullness, as not every game needs physics as much as rendering, but it might be a nice addition anyway. Perhaps it'll stimulate some innovation in games?
As for the review, fair review, but I don't agree with the author on all parts. Especially the story - there's a lot of info for the observant ones, which I think is a sort of reward for those that seek it. The Combine walls weren't a weapon against Gordon - to me it was obvious it was their way to slowly process earths capitals. And the unknown things leave room for speculation. I do agree that the end was rather abrubt and less satisfying though.
Oh well, it's his review, not mine, and it's interesting to see how others think about games, so yeah...