I couldn't agree with this more. In fact, when I set out to review a game, the very first thing I do is identify what the game is setting out to do. Then, I rate the game according to how close it was to achieving that goal.

I will occasionally bring up a deficiency if the title suffers from it disproportionately compared to other titles in its genre, and even if that deficiency is a staple of the genre. But I keep that kind of analysis to a minimum in my reviews.