Ostentatiously, the lowering is to bring the score in line with similar games. Unfortunately, the reviewer has more seat time with the game. That seat time make s the reviewer s opinion the one that should count. We all have it, and the competitive field of gaming journalism brings it to the fore. There s a line of folks waiting to write every review, every strategy guide, every feature.
All journalists have is their name.
Hey, it may make good reading, but it doesn t make good journalism. Obviously, the folks posting messages are a minuscule percentage of those playing the game. Editors may give us the work, yet they are not the audience, but rather a conduit to the audience. We, and our attendant egos, are not the audience. Armed with that information, our true audience can march to the store and confidently buy a game.