There have always been complaints about games being too easy. I remember reading in ST Format magazine 20 years ago that the Japanese market liked games that were easy to complete, and we didn’t. So game designers would make it hard or easy depending on which market they were aiming at.
Games that had me playing for hours and hours:
Atari ST:
F16 Combat Pilot
Elite
Populous
PC:
Half Life
Half Life 2
Playstation(s):
Wip3out
GTA3
But the most absorbing game I have ever played, and one of the greatest OF ALL TIME is UFO Enemy Unknown. I played it on the PC and for many months I was either playing it or thinking about playing it – nothing else. I was upset when I finished it, and proper gutted when I found out the sequels were not as good. I got it on a budget label and there were no giveaways about what was going to happen or even what I was supposed to do. It was totally free-form in terms of overall strategy to achieve your aim, and you didn’t even know how you were going to do it at first. Contrast that with Oblivion where you know you are there to close the gates, and each mission aka quest is a predefined sequence.