Thread title ask's the question and to elaborate here are my 5 choices:

1 - Story, I think we can all agree on this one, with the exception of sports games and others that dont require a story.  A decent story can make a good game great, it gets the player involved and motivated to push the main character/s through tough battles, strategical enviroments and common situations by giving the common situations a reason to exist. 

2 - Characters, whether the characters have names, origins or a meaning of existance; a good set of characters, both good and evil draws the player in and adds to the plot. 

3 - Variety, a good game has a bit of everything in it.  A bit of action, stealth, puzzle solving, sandbox, adventure etc.. an amazing game blends all or most of these seamlessly. 

4 - Graphics, whether these are amazingly realistic or the complete opposite; just as long as they represent the game in its entirety. 

5 - A good control system.  A lot of developers dont experiment and test the default controls from a non-biased point of view.  There are a lot of modern games that I've played and thought "the controls would be so much better if they were like this.." or "it would make much more sense if they were like this..."

So that's my 5, feel free to elaborate on your choices. 

1. Gameplay must be intuitive.
Let me compare two games.
We have call of duty, world at war.
We have brothers in arms, hells highway.
Both sucked hard, but i still enjoyed one in small doses: hells highway.
Both had bolt action rifles, so easy to compare. In cod it was lame, it didnt feel or apear like you'd really shot them. In hells highway, intuitive was the one think that stoped it bombing. I cant explain it, it just felt like you were using a real weapon, and you felt the power through the game. In cod i was never more aware a game was not real.
2. Plot quality.
Unlike 1, it can be missing, but it makes it very hard to enjoy a game.
Hells highway, world at war. Enslaved, these games have pathetic / exceptionally dull plots. It just didnt pull me in, all great games should make you feel these events are happening around you.
Now bioshock, that was an exceptional plot.
3. Plot length.
If a campaign is short, i feel like iv been ripped off. The biggest rip off gangsters were cod, not only do they keep giving me the same damn game, they ignore length to focuss on online. Well, to hell with you guys, i still aint bought blackops or 3, and guess what, im not going to.
Why is 3 still full price? Its been out for like a year you rip off artists
4.continuos originality.
Games can be fun. But by level 3, if its not changed at all, it begins to bomb.
Games like hells highway, cod, assasins creed. Same thing. Every level. You play level 1, you've seen it all.
5.graphics.
If a game has half the stuff i mentioned, this is unimportant. Games tend to fail if you devote too much attenion to graphics. Hells highway was stuning graphics, and i truely believe this is why the rest sucked so hard. Obviously id rather not have a littld two bit guy but his face alone dosent need to contain 256^10 pixels,focus on the rest then notch up the graphics if you have time.
A good example of a game that didnt get the balance right: mgs4.
Oh yes, i went there.
Intuitive, hm, yeh somewhat, a little less than ideal but good.
Plot quality: hell if i know, i gave up listening after a 15 min cutscene.
Plot length. Yeh that was very long.
Continuously unique, um, no. Its the same every level, making it oh sodry.
The graphics they evidently focussed on too much,they are insane.
Now bioshock, that game hits all factors except graphics, mainly because it went for gorydark images as opposed to shining realism, and i noticed some graphical execution errors. It dosent matter though, it excells where it matters.
And thats my 5

thenumberone : I understood most of that, mostly because Im nodding off lol.  I definetely agree with you on the plot length, newer COD releases do have extremely short single player campains which leave gamers who dont play online (eg me)  feeling extremely ripped off, although they did hit the nail on the head with graphics, sound, gameplay and enjoyment. 

Assassins Creed was definetely a good example of a overly-long plot, I somewhat see it as bang for buck, but it comes at the price of repetativeness.  The overall story and setting for all of the AC titles are extremely well written and designed but they drew it all out for way too long. 

I disagree with Hell's Highway sucking hard, I thought the story and atmosphere of the gameplay really drew me in.  I felt the story telling was darkened quite cleverly. 

i just felt hells highway was the same every level, hence i did only 1 a day. and the makers of creed are taking the ----, seriously, and the way they release parts of the game as add ons, rip off

1. Gameplay- People have seemed to forget this over the last few years, what really the most important aspect of a game is. Gameplay is the reason we play games, not to look at graphics or listen to music. If a game has great gameplay it already is on its way to perfection.

Oh my, let me get going...

First and most important is gameplay. Can I play it? Is it fun?

Second is the story. I need to feel engaged in the game I'm playing. I can make up a story if there isn't one, but I prefer to be told a story. I don't play games to use my imagination and create, I play games to hear a story and be entertained.

Third is sound. Does everything sound ok? It doesn't need to be perfect, but I don't want bird to sound like a truck exploding at point blank range. I need to feel like it could be feasibly possible in terms of sounds.

Fourth is length of game. It doesn't need to be long when I say this. I want it to feel like the game is the right length. I can be as satisfied with a 3 hour game as a 20 hour one. I don't want an RPG that is 20 seconds long, or a simple platformer that takes 80 hours to complete. I want to feel like it's not crammed together.

Fifth is definitely controls. It goes into gameplay... but not entirely.

taterii : what exactly do you mean by 'gameplay'
You never really explained that. To me gameplay is the sum of the parts, sound, length etc and hence not actualy a valid factor.

This is an easy thread.
1. Story- don't care must have.
2. Graphics- decent at least.
3. Appeal- must be appealing to other users.
4. Continues- OMG it better have continues!
5. Don't you EVER forget short non-tedious cheat codes!!!

Those are what it takes to be a game that Klutch would play. yaaaaaaaaay.

Five things... time to get thinking.

1) Enjoyable. I don't enjoy video games that are meant to be extremely puzzle oriented as I usually play video games when I am brain-dead from a thought exhausting day. If the game is actually enjoyable to play (well, I guess that in this case my definition of enjoyable might be leisurely), then I can relax while playing it.

2) Graphics. Yes, graphics are important to me. If I don't like what I am seeing / I don't know what I am staring at, then I have a problem. This is mainly the reason why so few older games make it into my top 5 list of games, I go for looks, which is why I find many Wii games to be cool to play.

3) Exhilarating. If I can get my heart pumping fast and receive some exhilaration from playing the game, then I enjoy it.

4) Length. If the game is longer while having the feature of the first three, then the longer the better. I just want to enjoy some games forever, because after the first time around it takes a lot of self-coercion to get started from the beginning again. Once I am started, then I usually get addicted once more.

5) Multiplayer. I love to play games with several people rather than just me, so I would definitely love there to be extensive multiplayer / co-op options.

(Sound would come in a close sixth, but I won't get into that much more).

Yes, those are my top 5.

1) Game play for sure is one of the key factors in a video game. I'm gonna use "Sonic and The Secret Rings" as an example. I love Sonic games but the game play on that was dreadful so that's a key factor. Take Assassin's Creed as a good game play and think of how awesome that was because the controls were easy and jumping of buildings and doing cool sword kills are just amazing. Not like Sonic and The Secret Rings where the controls suck and your walking up loops (tell me how that's fun)

2) Length is also important just because I hate having to play a game like "Prototype 2" love it and then it's over in the next minute.

3) A game is incomplete without a story. Need I say more besides it has to have a good plot for us to actually get hooked in the game

4)I like a game to have good realistic graphics. Not all the time but in a lot of games graphics could be a good factor. Take "Wipeout" for Wii. All the characters looked like bobble heads and the graphics looked like it was made by monkeys. That actually took a lot of the game play fun out for me as well so I would say graphics is a huge importance in a lot of video games.

5) Sound is a huge importance just because I like listening to the cool effects. In Uncharted the music really made the game better and intensified the game play and got you wanting to know whats gonna happen. And if I killed someone in AC it wouldn't be as fun if I couldn't hear the sound of the blade slicing someone up! (sorry )

But those would easily be my top 5

5 more things a game should have.
1. It should be suspenseful.
2. It would be nice to have a twist or two in the story.
3. An introduction, I don't want to click on a game, and start shooting something, I want to know about what I'm shooting and why.
4.Okay here's an easy one the game has to have a clean title, I don't want to see something profane in the title, such as the game Cokemon.
(That game is terrible).
5. Here's the big one, let the game have multiple difficulty settings, so that when the game is kicking my a$$, I can turn down the heat. And turn it up when I'm heating it.. up lol.
<,|,>

I think that in a video game, what is important is:

1: The game must be fun.

2: The graphics must be fun and original (I do not say that they must be in HD, I prefer old games).

3: The music.

4: The game should be different from others in some points at least.

5: The game must have good controls.

Great question!

Great question.

1)For me, the story has to be detailed, original and relatable in an RPG.  But then in a platform game it can be short, vague and weird or cutesy or whatever-and shooters I think have the most leeway for me.  That's really all about tactics and reflexes and an arcade like action, so I don't really take in the story so much as ready myself for the next level.

2)Potential for exploration.  In RPGs this is a must.  Having side quests to further embellish the storyline and characters is what makes these games so enamoring.  Not only do you gain relics or weapons that help, get to experience sometimes obscure game secrets, and see some special little part of the story-but you also gain experience points for the levels you need to gain anyway.  The only RPG I liked without this was Legend of Dragoon.  For scrollers, even Mario had secret levels and flutes and shortcuts-those make it awesome!

3)Graphics.  Pure and simple.  A lot of what I love about games is that they're like cartoons I can play.  Details and appropriate color schemes are the key.  I actually love the SNES, PS1 and 64 graphics the best out of anything to date-and I attribute it to artistic details that enrich the story and help submerse you into the world within the game.  Mario 64 is a great example of how simple, cartoon like graphics with appropriate concepts and color schemes really pull one into the game.

4)Characters.  Got to have good characters for a rich storyline and locale-affecting the graphics.  Their personalities have to clash, or relate in genuine or at least relatable ways.  Plus, the different characters usually have their own skill sets-which you use to traverse the game-so this really affects gameplay. 

5)A lot of people said that game controls are important to them, but not to me.  Part of the fun of playing new games is practicing and mastering the new controls.  Even on here, I have to get used to using a keyboard to play these games.  But difficulty and ability to gain strength through levels or weapons really makes a game great for. 

Here are the 5 things that are most important in a video game:

1. Gameplay - Fun
2. Music and Sound - It has to fit the game
3. Story/Plot - Something special
4. Controls - Simple but not confusing
5. Graphics - Beautiful and nice

Kefka : Your potential for exploration is an awesome point kefka, exploring for those hidden items/upgrades (for example Super Metroid) just makes the game so much more enjoyable.  Side quests/missions are great aswell, if your getting sick of the main quest or just want to explore more. 

Five important thing about games for me is that it is fun,interesting like I would like the game easy,adventurous,graphics so it is good to see,and the control to see if it is good to control

thenumberone : I mean what you do in the game, how the mechanics work, what you actually do in the game. Like fighting, shooting, how the main gameplay is structured. What makes the game fun.

1- The plot. The game could have the best graphics ever and Totally blow chunks. A good story over Great graphics every time.
2-  oh crap gotta get back to work
3 add more later
4 was also a good one
5 wish my breaks were longer. I will adjust this post, please don't remove it,

ok I'm back. Ill jus start over and make a more in depth.... thing.

1- A game needs a good Plot followed by a good ending. It cant just have a simple predicable story, cuz that makes people mad. You know spend 40+ hours just to see "Game Over" you are a hero. bla bla bla. I have played too many games that have started strong and finished like a man with no legs dragging himself to the finish line on a skateboard.

2- The characters need to be realistic to a certain extent. And they need to have real personalities. There are some games I have played where you get a choice of dialogue, and all of the choices are very similar. Its like "hello Jon how are you" and the choices to respond are like --good--  --fine-- -- not bad-- BOOOOOOOORIIIIIING!!!!!! The  Fallout series is a good example of having options. You can be a nice guy and a hero, or you can be a total prick and spit verbal aggression at sprites moments before you brutally murder them for their caps.

3- Choices. This I cant stress enough. I want arrows to show me where the main quest is at, but I also want to be able to murder the entire population of a game and have them stay gone. I like that enemies can respawn but I would also like the ability to wipe life off the face of the realm if I want. Mass genocide of a fictional world could quite possible prevent  the same in ours. Or maybe it wont. Oh well choice is still important.

4- MMO. Now if there is one thing I like its the ability to play with my friends, just as long as they are doing it somewhere else, because they are pigs and they mess up my house. Some of the greatest games would have been Legendary if they would have only had a multiplayer option. Elder scrolls, Fallout you are both guilty of failure to join people in the struggle between good and evil. Accept for the guys who made the fallout online mod for the original 2. They combined fallout 1 world map with fallout 2 world map, made it a multiplayer game and wahlaah. Awesomeness at its finest. Now if they could just do something about those Damn PKer A-holes.

5- Finally!!!! The developers need to be open to destructive criticism. There are things about certain games that just get me so F-ing Peed-Off. More specifically. The 7000 load screens you need to go through when entering the Lucky 78. Load to enter Vegas strip, load to enter hotel, load to enter elevator, load to go into room. Load to leave room, load to leave elevator, load to leave hotel load to fast travel to next location, load to enter destination. I had a nervous breakdown and decided to smash my XBOX 360 into tiny pieces because all the damn load screens wore out lens of my HDDVD Rom. I wrote a 3 screen length rant on how mad I was and how poor of a design that was, stating several reasons  salt and peppered with the C and F words. And not only did they NOT apologise for failing. They banned me from the forum. Well EXCUSE ME BETHESDA! But some of us cannot articulate things like normal educated, non bi polar individuals. But does that mean that between the F's and C's, that my points are not valid? I have to explain to you NICELY about how stupid I think you are? It doesn't work..........................

actually scratch that. 

5- Make a game with less load screens. Yea there we go.

well thanks for listening to me rant. There is plenty more to come. Hope I didn't offend anyone too badly. Oh and if you disagree with me, that's fine. But please don't get in a flaming match with me. Because I tend to be a little unstable.