What makes a game good?

[Kirk]

Guns and girls.

[WarHampster]

For console games -

1.Easy to understand and responsive controls.
2.Some sort of a story line (not always necessary, but its nice to have one)
3.Game play that changes, so the game has replay value. (Intelligent AI, multiple ways to win, sandbox game play, ect.)
4.Fun, but not addictive multiplayer.

For PC games -

1.For the graphics, it depends of what type of game I'm playing. If it's a FPS, then I love awesome graphics. For any other genre, I couldn't care less.
2.Relatively easy to modify make maps for. User created content always extends a game's life (look at halo )
3.A relatively interesting story.

[Cuda]

For me, I look for slight realism and some arcady feel. For example: (an odd example at that) For sports games (Mainly EA's NHL series) I like having the ACTUAL Gear, Helmet designs, Cyberfaces, Ice Ads, Board Ads, and Rink Ads (LCD ring, Scoreboard etc.) instead of the stamped out basic blah blah stock EA bullshit.

Graphically, I'd like something that looks good and pieces that come off. For example, Kane & lynch, even though it was precut, the corners when you shot at them, they'd crumble off and allow you to shoot at the target hiding behind it. a greater example would be GRiD. The Glass when you break it, and do that slo-mo rewind, seems like it all goes back exactly piece by piece.

Controls/Camera movement/angles. Very Key for me. If a game has clunky controls, but expects precision, I cannot play it. I hate clunky controls. And cameras that go through things, or give wierd angles everywhere. I hate it. Everything just needs to be fluid and seem natural

Strong story and/or strong free roam mode. The only game that I've seen this play out was GTA. The free roam was well done. Some games though, I kinda like having play like a movie like Kane & Lynch. I liked how the cutscenes and gameplay seamed so well.

[DRL333]

Well for me...

I like a game with the following qualities:

-Good gameplay.
-Challenging AI (campaign).
-Cool environments (don't necessarily have to be amazing graphics).
-Balanced gameplay (campaign, multiplayer).
-Variables that effect gameplay (such as different ways to beat the game, different characters, etc).
-Has replay value

...and huge battles, like in Star Wars Battlefront and Quake Wars.