xhonzi said:

Whenever I hear a complaint that a game is "repetitive", I realize it's really a complaint that the game isn't masking the repetitiveness. All games are repetitive. It's whether it feels repetivite- whether it is able to distract you from that that matters.

I think your observations on "challenge" and "it just tells you what to do and then you do it" to be on a similar level. Isn't that true of almost all of the games we play?

Well, not really. Sure, all you're really doing when playing a game is pressing a series of buttons repeatedly. But it is a lot more than that. With a game like Portal, you're solving puzzles and it might take a a bit of skill or practice to manage to fling yourself across the room to the desired platform. In a game like Super Mario World it might take several tries to finally make your way through that one particularly annoying level so you can proceed onto the next. In a game like Modern Warfare you might need to reply the same section a dozen times or so until you figure out the best way to get through it without dying. Meanwhile through all of that all you are really doing is pushing buttons... but only in so much as driving a car is really just pushing down peddles and turning a wheel.

In Assassin's Creed II I feel like all I am doing is running from one location to the other and frequently fighting guards in-between, which involves using various button combos to best them... but could almost be done by randomly striking buttons without even looking at the screen. As I am getting more weapons (poison blade) and learning more moves, the combat it becoming more fun.

Best Half-Life adaption of all time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRsexrhbG8&feature=grec_index