In a game...what impresses you most?

[Scythe]

Imagination? Nintendo are kings of this, how you interact with your surroundings, little nuances here and there, suprising little details that you only notice after hours of playing...Zelda TWW is a prime example.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

Freedom of movement, scope, and the realisation of the Devs' vision. There doesn't even have to be true freedom of movement throughout the game world if those who created it are skillful enough, the 'Rooftops' mission on Thief 2 followed a ( mostly ) linear path, but it still felt wonderfully expansive and liberating due to the intricacy with which it was formed.

Plus, the feeling of 'being' the main character, and finding yourself falling into that mindset. The Thief series, MGS1, and System Shocks 1&2 were games where I experienced what I imagined the character would also be going through; technically proficient yet scared out of your mind in the System Shock series, moving between the shadows in Thief with not just a workable motion but almost a sense of pride at your refinement of a mere 'crime', and constantly looking for areas of concealment on MGS while debating whether it really is necessary to take out that patrolling guard, these are the kinds of games that truly impress me.

[Freedan]

The way games absorb you, how outside things stop effecting you, time , comings and goings. And how you feel part of it , involved

[Canton Province]

When a game makes you so skillful you just wanna go back and start again and play it how it should be played.

[scottcr]

The first "big room" in the Chozo Ruins... the sun, the flare, the birds (that you could shoot.. ), the trees growing out of the walls, the chunks of wall that have fallen from the wall, ceiling... it's amazing. So immersive, so realistic looking, but so fantastic at the same time.

I've never seen anything else like it in a game. Every "area" in that game has something in it that just makes me go "wow".

[olly]

Music plays a very big part. In any genre, music can set the scene so well.

[chipsgravy]

I love a well animated game. Where all the characters and surroundings move really fluid. Like Zelda TWW and Streetfighter 3. I really hate Sloppy choppy Animations.