Good Hunting

What actually makes a game good? Some people like to play a certain genre of game, while others focus on only individual aspects. This is what I think contributes to making a game good.

• Graphics. If it looks realistic, you can at least admire the neatness. Some games even have camera blurring, mouth sync and other cool hints of realism.
• Fighting style. There are only a handful of games that don't feature a bit of violence, but fighting style is good to look at. Look at Prince of Persia. Sands of Time was great, but the fighting style was repetitive, but the other game play made up for it. Warrior Within and Two Thrones introduced an open ended fighting style, but were let down on story and game play. Still, fighting style is important. The only fighting button in Rise to Honour was the right analog stick, but look at the combat! Jet Li kicking ass all over the place.
• Length. Some games just drag on and on, and it eventually comes to a head when you want them to end. Free roaming games are an exception to this rule, but story line games need to have an appropriate length. The Sims is a good example. By the time you work and you have to raise mechanical skill or whatever, and then do so, about three hours have gone by. I didn't give a toss about my guy eventually.
• Story. Whilst this isn't a prominent feature in most games, some games introduce a really good story, which acts just like a narrative. Good examples of this are Prince of Persia and God of War.