What do you look at first when considering a game to play?

It depends on the genre for me. For example, a game like Minecraft, I'll be looking for gameplay almost exclusively as it is a sandbox game. However, games like RPG's, the storyline is what really gets me to play, but of course it's a mixture with gameplay in that genre. I like good visuals, but I don't base my decision on visuals :) Audio can sometimes be a really impotant factor, I think I'm not the only one who agrees that good music can make a game unforgettable! :)

I liek how noone choosed adudio or visuals

in order:
1-gameplay
2-visuals
3-audio
4-story

i dont really care about the story as long im having fun + some eye candy graphics :p

I think first is probably the visuals, as that's probably the first thing I get to look at. Though when I consider if I want to play the game or not, then it's the gameplay, story or sometimes I might look at a review of the game first.

Audio I rarely look at, but sometimes I've opened a wav file in a sound editor to look at it, analyze it and compare it with audio that I've done, to know if my audio is same, worse or better quality.

Gameplay, if its singleplay then maybe story if not its visuals.

Gameplay, somethimes on visual and storyline. =)

All of them? :)
But Gameplay and Storyline are most important and it would be nice if it could have nice Graphics too and good Sound/Music! :D

gameplay and storyline. I mean I can even indulge myself playing at 15 FPS, as long as the game mechanics and story are good.

I mostly judge on gameplay but often i want something with atleast decent graphics :p.

that's a really hard question to answer, Gameplay is a must all games should have a solid Gameplay mechanic, but at the same time you can look at games with Amnesia: A Dark Decent where Sound and Visualizes where the gameplay, but some have Great story in it's self which make you want to play. Really you need to focus on every aspect of these and some less than others. I really can't answer this one D: Becuase you can't jsut over look audio in games if you have bad audio give a funky feeling to the game and is a huge turn off, visuals I'd have to say are all different weather it be 8bit, high-def, or cartoony that's just a style and are attacked at different levels. So I think the Order I'd go with is

1. Gameplay.
2. Audio.
2. Story.
3. Visuals

the visuals because its hard not to see them first. :3

Even though gameplay is the most important. It is the visuals that one sees first.

To be honest ... story and gameplay are equally important to me. Or at least, usually. There are a few exceptions, but generally a solid story and fun gameplay are the most important parts of a game / mod to me.

well in some games a good storyline can make up for bad gameplay and vice versa

Can't tell you exactly, but I have a special feeling when I holding a DVD-box(or whatever) with disk(of course) inside, and this feeling told me if I like it or not! This is not just a feeling...But it always worked well and never mistaken!

Gameplay first, for sure!
Story is also pretty important!
Visuals... I own a Nintendo Wii, AND LOVE IT! Need I say more?
Audio, not very important to me, but can make or break a simple game! Ever play madnessMADNESSmadness?

If it looks interesting and catches my eye, then I'll continue to read on and see if I'll like the story or not, then that determines whether I buy it or not :)

My first eye-catcher, is always the visuals.
However, if I like the features of it (by reading the backside of the game cover etc), it is the gameplay that catches me rather than visuals.

Since Im a level designer, I have to say Visuals, because if it looks bad then I might be able to help or not be interested on how they are approaching it.

for me:
1. gameplay (why a play a game where the gameplay sucks badly)
2. story (i like a good story)
3. audio (i want music that fit's the place you are in)
4. visuals (never really had much with this good graphics dont make a good game)

Definitely gameplay! The rest is in second place. But i prefer a good balance game, if there is a possibility.

1-Gameplay: What good is a game if you can't play it?
2-visuals: Graphics are always nice, but not essential.
3-Audio: Sounds can add a lot to a game environment.
4-story: As long as I am having fun, I don't care about the story.

Visuals catch my attention, then gameplay makes it fun or not. I don't care about the story, all I want to do in a video game is KILL!

GAMEPLAY GAMEPLAY GAMEPLAY

A good story is liked as well although some games don't necessarily need to have stories. Visuals and audio are important to with the latter being more important in my personal opinion. Old games like System Shock 2 still sound better than games that come out today. Good graphics are liked, but not always necessary. I tend to like games that have good atmosphere overall, and all 4 of those are necessary to achieve that.

I can put it in order: First the gameplay (Why the heck am I 'PLAYING' the game? Oh, sure... gameplay) and then the Visuals (come on, good visuals can help ALOT combined with the gameplay, so yes, it have some importance).

The most important question!

Gameplay+Storyline of course. Gameplay is my choice.

wow. who in the world voted audio?

I have to say since I Played Mass Effect and dragon age with the best stories ever..

storyline
gameplay
graphics
sound

theyre all important to me but if I had to choose.

acutally I think graphics and sound are underestimated, for me they matter alot. They are the mood-creators and for me the mood of a game is pretty important, they are the things that makes a game "awesome".

I'm not saying I'm a graphics *****, because I Company of Heores got , but so dothink Red Alert 2.

Unfortunately I'm ashamed to say the visuals tend to draw me in first which is silly because most of my fave games of all time have awful graphics, so it's not really something that makes a game for me. Fact of the matter is I don't have much time to browse through everything so if something catches my eye I'll usually take a closer look. From then on it's about the other 3 options. I guess gameplay firstly.

I like Doom 1 & 2 better than Doom 3 so I think I'm not into visual

Gameplay then story and dead last is visuals/audio. If you don't enjoy playing the actual game why bother going through the story.

Visuals/audio is just nice to have as a bonus, but it have no priority what-so-ever. That's why I prefer games like Age of Empires II over the modern games.

In my opinion Crysis and (for example) Plants versus Zombies has the same quality of visuals i remeber that they have two absolutely different genres. So i would say...

1. Visuals
2. Gameplay / Storyline
3. Gameplay / Audio / Storyline
4. Gameplay / Audio / Storyline

... I just can't decide the last three

same here... all about the storyline and game play... visuals comes in after those and Audio is really the least important but very nice to have... plus some times audio saves you from having to read text :]

all of them except the audio
1st is gameplay
2nd is the storyline
3rd is the visuals

Story, gameplay music and epicness at once.
Just like mass effect 2.

1. Story
2. Audio & Gameplay
3. Visuals (although I like games which look nice :))

i choose if its worth wasting electricity on

Although visuals look nice, they should NEVER be the main focus, the main focus should always be Gameplay, wtf is a game without gameplay? A movie!

Are you playing a movie or a game is the question you got to ask!

Mainly for me, it's game play, but if the story line blows, the game play loses it's magic pretty fast, also crappy visuals and audio can do the same.

and on the subject of audio, I've never met anyone who chose a game because it had good audio, but I know plenty of people who didn't play a game because it had ****** audio

storyline and gameplay :)

The poll's title has "look at", an act of visual observation, not "look for", as in "to search". It is strongly biased toward graphics, though if you count multiple graphics that create a motion, gameplay can also be considered. Still, videos do not give away the handling of actors or finer points of gameplay, it is something that is only experienced by actually playing it.

Visuals & Gameplay for me