>>714943773that click you talk about, that's the execution.
in amateur filmmaking I would call it polish.
its what todd howard wished he was talking about when he said things "just work"
its the holy grail of anything made by man.
innovation is only half of what drives us forward.
improving on that innovation and integrating it is the other half, and it is often the one that successfully integrates things into a cohesive, balanced package that defines them.
weapons, vehicles, ai, level design, general gameplay, music, multiplayer, and what I would like to call "the novelty threshold".
Halo had all of that.
The biggest bitch anyone can make about it was its level reuse. Not for the levels being shit, but that they reused them at all.
That is because the entire experience is so well executed. There was precious little to criticize at the time.