Bad puzzle is illogical. Perfect example in Secret Files (I think the first one). You need water. You are inside a museum, you can go driving around the town, you can visit your father's home. But instead of just - you know - going for the closest faucet you need to unscrew a radiator to get the water that's inside it.
Seriously. This was the kind of stuff that really let me down on Lost Horizon, that had so much potential otherwise. Among with the 1001 errand boy puzzles (which are fine when there's one or two here and there).
Another example would be just a random scenario where you need to break a window. You have a brick, a board, a helmet and a hammer. But you are not able to break that window. You need to find a rock that's basically the same weight as the brick to break that damn window.
Or just hunting a pencil anywhere with civilisation. Really, ask someone or buy one for pete's sake.
The solutions
can be goofy sometimes, especially in games that are supposed to be weird, like Sam and Max.
Then there are plenty of good puzzles, that's why I like adventure games
.
