Many games I've played had a small amount of action in them, but I would still consider them adventures. The action parts stick out like a sore thumb because I find action generally difficult and frustrating. Here's some that come to mind:
Gabriel Knight games : Having a timed action ending was stressful, and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the game. The absolute worst sequence for me was the pendulum in GK3. I spent the better part of 2 hours on that one sequence.
Tex Murphy games : Each of the ones I've played had stealth/action in them. Probably any more and I would have called them action/adventure.
Traitor's Gate : Here's another one that was borderline for me.
The Watchmaker and
The Ward : Both of those had action end sequences that necessitated getting a saved game for me to finish.
Uru Chronicles: this is a true action/adventure in my book. It took me about a year to finish this. The action bits would get me so frustrated, that I would have to let the game go for a while. The only reason I persisted
was that I loved the environments (and the fact that it was a Myst game
)
Action in adventure games is a very hot topic right now in some of the other gaming forums.
The problem I have with action is that it always relies on your reflexes. Many times you know what has to be done. For example in Uru, you need to jump to a rock. If you can't get the timing right, you fail. No walkthrough can help you with that task.
The other aspect of action is that it often accompanies 3D games. I guess they figure if they give you this huge environment to explore, jumping and moving things would be interesting challenges.
Lastly Action and 3D usually means keyboard control. I prefer to play point and click games.