Although I do like games with stories, I don't think they should necessarily be an important factor for evaluating a game. For many years, games were just 'gameplay' (you could read some backstory in some of their manuals, though I don't know what backstory there was for PacMan ) . Storytelling was just slowly introduced to gaming as the media allowed it. Sure, if I'm playing an adventure game I want a good story, but the focus is in the puzzle solving. I also want a good story in a RPG, but the focus is in the stats and customization (items, spells, etc). Story is also good in a strategy game, but what matters is the strategy options and balance.Half-life 2 had a unique way of story telling as all the experiance was from the perspective of you as a silent player, the dog and alyx and her dad was also memorable characters. But the story was a bit of a dissapointment anyway. It did however breath new life into the genre by adding physics and the gravity gun!
I do love RTS games While I don't personaly like starCraft at all, I am the first one to admit that it deserves all the praise it got, no other game had such a variety of raises so much multiplayer possiblity so good balance as starcraft.
The C&C games, well I love the C&C games, but I think C&C 3 got too high ratings it was the same as C&C 1, and the red alert games, the only difference was better graphics.
Warcraft, nothing to say here also, warcraft one was the start of this genre in the fantasy universe and brought many new ideas with the farms and resource management. Warcraft 2, it added a lot of new ideas to the old concept. Warcraft 3 it brought a completely new aspect where you managed a smaller army with heroes, to focus more on the ability use in combat, and less on just building huge armies. So while I am not a huge warcraft fan I also easily admit it deserved the ratings.
I guess my point is it is games and should be rated with focus on gameplay and interactive story telling, rather than graphics. If it was a graphics demo sure it updated graphics should be enough for a top rating.
I put story at the same level as sound and graphics, just accessories to the actual game (accessories that can definitely make a good game better, but it had to be good to start). As an example, one of the best games I've played in years is King's Bounty, yet the story is nothing special, the graphics are good but not breathtaking, sound is just ok, it has spelling errors, a bug here and there, but the actual gameplay is what makes me play and love it.