Well, I can't give any specific titles here, but I bet that there are hundreds of games out there that totally suck, but have (for example) a very well made graphic engine, or a good storyline, or music (at this moment the title Dementia came to my mind), and most of the time people would notice that in spite of the fact that the game itself as a whole is awfull - especially with the graphics, people tend to notice this one very early, even as early as upon viewing some screenshots, and I'm quite sure that people will say "woah, this game has excellent graphics, I wonder if the gameplay/music/etc. will be as good". And there is nothing bad in that.
I agree with the rest of your post.