I don't have much time for video games lately, but I actually played one through to the end recently:
World of Goo. It's definitely reminiscent of Lemmings, if you remember that game, in that you tell some of the little guys (in this case, "Goo Balls") to make an exit for the rest of the little guys. The Goo Balls can be used to make erector sets, bridges, towers, ropes, strings of firecrackers, etc. It's a physics simulator with a rather hip and ironic sensibility.
In contrast with the big blockbuster releases, there were pretty much just two guys working on WoG. It works, though. And it works, because the
gameplay is good! I got the Wii version for $15; there are Mac and PC versions as well.