For me, mercuryus hit the nail on the head (k.i.s.s.). Too many gadgets and control keys ruin any game for me. I don't buy a game to sit for hours reading what I have to do to play it, only to find I have to contort my hands in unnatural positions to perform the flying kick that will kill a boss.

One of the aspects that the old-style games seem to have that the new games miss out on is the game pace. Games like Doom or early Quake had intense action followed by lulls that allowed the player to relax just enough to get a bit of shock when the next action set began.

HL2 and F.E.A.R are both pretty good at controlling the game pace.

Far Cry is a good example of a game that didn't have the right pace. I played it a few times. I found myself spending more time stock piling weapons and vehicles than actually playing the game.