Notion: In my book, games are all about entertainment. If a game fails to entertain, for whatever reason, the game is a failure: It sucks. It's like watching the news, judging it as a French art movie. As a French art movie the news broadcast fails miserably. I don't need to compare a given broadcast to any other news broadcast, simply because, by judging every one of them as French art movies, they all fail in entertaining me. This said: I think it's valid to say "this game sux, period!" if it fails to give you anything you want of a game.
I was about to tear to pieces Mafia, but now that I accept the story/plot, I have to admit that even if it's one of them "trigger based obstacle courses" that I generally detest, I find the story so nicely told that I will give the game "accepted plus". I accept that it isn't a "game" as I would like it, but rather a movie, and it's entertaining. That's all I need
