Main Character - confident but flawed. Grows stronger as the game progresses. Relatable.

Story - told well. No excessively long cutscenes. Deals with interesting themes and does not contain clichés.

Gameplay - well, this depends on the genre. One rule: it has to be fun to play.

Musical score - varied. I should be able to listen to it when I'm not playing the game and enjoy it.

Setting and atmosphere - A variety across the game. Conveyed by visual design and music.

Introduction - introduces key characters. Avoids jargon. Little to no action.

Ending - ties up all loose ends. Leaves no plot holes. Influenced by your decisions throughout the game.

Online - not necessary, but if included, it should be original and provide you with reasons to keep playing. It should not give a huge advantage to high level players, but there should be an incentive to advance.

Sounds like you don't like JRPGs.

What games are best for each catergory?

What would you say is the best game for each catergory?

An excellent example of each:

Main Character: Assassin's Creed 2 (Ezio)

Story: Heavy Rain

Gameplay: Many. Arkham City is a good example.

Musical Score: Shadow of the Colossus

Setting and Atmosphere: BioShock

Introduction: inFamous

Ending: The Witcher

Online: Call of Duty 4. There, I said it.

A game that accomplishes what it was made to do and possibly more.

Super Mario Bros 3 is renowned for its online mode, yes.

Main character - Link because he is such a hollow shell that you can see yourself in his shoes. Excuse me Princess.

Story- Final Fantasy II SNES (Better know as FF IV) Leading a man through his loss of faith in his career, his King, himself, and friendship to be born again as a confident Hero fighting for all that he loves. My favorite game in the FF series and most likely my favorite story in gaming.

Gameplay - The best game you've had the pleasure to control. Even if the rest of the game sucked.

Musical score - Final Fantasy III SNES(Better know as FF VI) Each location and major character had it's/his/her own theme. They really drew you into the game. Despite lack of voice acting, the themes played through the music would set the tone for each situation, conversation, etc. Who doesn't remember Kefka's theme.

Setting and atmosphere - Silent Hill 1 & Bioshock are tied here. They both use a great mix a visuals and sounds. One using the PS1's lack of power to it's benefit and the other using current HD systems to it's benefit. Putting you in cramped spaces with trouble around each corner.

Intro - Uncharted 2. The train scene was awesome. It puts you straight into peril and makes you fight to safety for the game to begin. (Bioshock was also great. Playing the demo of that intro made me go out and buy the game.)

Ending - I've got a three way tie here. Zelda Wind Waker, Shadow of the Colossus and Super Metroid. WW for it's awesome final battle, Shadow for it's final heart wrenching end, and Metroid for the final battle/escape.

Online modes - Rainbow 6, working with 5 other guys to silently take down terrorists and save hostages.

Protagonist - Doesn't monologue, doesn't think aloud, and keeps his/her cakehole shut in general for over 90% of the game. Not a boring, emotionless iceberg of a character, just not particularly chatty either. (Can't think of any specific game, there's quite a few games with silent protagonists out there)

Story - Takes control away from the player as rarely as humanly possible and makes uncovering most of the backstory entirely optional. Avoids clichés and black-and-white characterizations. (Metroid Prime comes to mind)

Gameplay - Super Metroid. Just Super Metroid.

Musical score - Melodic rock-style soundtracks are really up my alley. (Mega Man X and Super Castlevania IV. I didn't even have to think about this one.)

Setting and atmosphere - Same as the one above the above.

Intro - Doesn't drag on. Gives me a basic idea of what I am and where the Hell I should go. (Again, I can't think of a specific example)

Ending - After a boss battle with a giant alien-brain-mutant-fetus-monster-thing in space, you get greeted by a nice soothing picture of the sea, with a Hitler/Stalin-esque dictator in the background, laughing in his unmentionables atop a hijacked alien spacecraft. Then the credits roll with some nice 24(?)-bit music. (As far as I know, Metal Slug 3 is the only game so far with that kind of ending. Pity, really.)

Online - Don't really care, as long as it isn't completely borked. I'm more into local.

To me it boils down to if the game was fun and kept me coming back for more. Some of my favorite games this generation are Earth Defense Force 2017, Nier, Super Meat Boy, Resistance series, the Halo's, Ratchet and Clank, Ninja Blade, Alan Wake, Bayonetta and Vanquish. All these games have different qualities and there is no set thing that makes me love a game. Gameplay is first and foremost the most important aspect of all the games listed so gameplay is important to me.

Now Graphics, Story, Music don't impact me too much. I like the Uncharted games but only for the stories and they don't suck me in very much. I thought the gameplay was meh. I liked them just didn't love them. Then you have a game like God of War series which I love but I didn't have that feeling inside that makes me want to go back to the game when I quit playing simply because I don't like Kratos as a character but everything else is great.

I guess what I'm getting at is that for me there is no set definition of perfection because the games I like have differing qualities and can't simply be summed up into categories. I fell in love with the stories in Nier and Alan Wake and that was the reason I loved them but games like Vanquish had a crappy story but I loved them just the same. It boils down to does the game suck me in.