What I Look for in a Game

Over my years of gaming I have accumulated a fairly large collection of games.  Some of them have been absolute gold, but others...not so much.  Personally, RPG's are my bread and butter.  I have always loved playing as a specific character or having a designated role in a group.  This doesn't mean that I haven't branched out into other genres, but RPG's are my ultimate favorite.  These are the tags recommended for me on Steam:  RPG, action, sci-fi, co-op, and adventure.  I have to hand it to them, they hit it on the nose.

Here are some of the factors I look for in a game.

Engaging Story
I am drawn to games that have a strong story line and that are very story driven.  I have always loved BioWare's games because of their strong storytelling.  I find myself very invested in carrying out the story I have envisioned for my character.  I find myself tuning out in games that don't have a strong story  line.  I made the mistake of buying Spelunky during one of the Steam sales.  I'm sure it's a great game, but I just haven't been able to get into it.  I have played it for a total of 30 minutes.  Good thing I only paid around $5 for it.

I'm sorry Spelunky.  I can't love you.

I really enjoyed playing TellTale's The Walking Dead series and it's a simple point and click game, but another great example of a series with a strong story.

Replayability
Great games make you want to play them over and over.  Games are pretty expensive often $50 or more for leading titles.  I'm not laying down that kind of cash for a game that I'm going to play through once and then shelf.  A well made game makes you want to replay it and uncover all the divergent paths.  The Mass Effect series is my all-time favorite due to the fact that every time I replay it I find something I missed.  (I will replay the entire thing too--no Genesis for me!)  I have around 375 hours in Mass Effect 2 and just discovered Fist (from Chora's Den on the Citadel) hanging out in Omega.

Engaging Gameplay
I have a really hard time with open-world games.  I do own Bethesda's Fallout and Elder Scrolls series (well, really just Oblivion and Skyrim).  The gameplay is what keeps me playing them.  I find that the story becomes diluted in most open-world games.  There is so much more focus on exploration and looting than on following a certain story line.  There's just something about shooting and slashing through hordes of enemies and searching through mountains of loot that keeps me playing.

Challenge
Games that push you are always better than games that allow you to roll through them.  I'm not one of the elitists that only plays games that have been identified as hardcore or extremely challenging.  One of my favorite strategy games is X-Com:  Enemy Unknown.  I like that you really struggle through the early parts of the game as your squad develops.  I also like the randomness, it can be frustrating at times, but that challenge is what keeps me playing.

So what do you look for in a game?