Blockhead

Without saying anything, how long have you been playing video games?

No it's not. When I worked at MicroProse (1988-1993), game reviewers openly asked for bribes to review our games. As in, they'd call up our marketing VP and tell him they'd review it but only if we flew them into town and wined and dined them. Or if we paid a $1000 fee to "move our review to the front of the line." When I worked at Ensemble (1997-2009) reviewers were a bit less crass. Instead, they'd call from magazines and say stuff like, "We're considering a big review of Age of Mythology in the August issue. How big of an ad spread do you want?" strongly implying that buying ads in their magazine would get that review. But not outright committing a felony. Nowadays I ONLY trust independent reviewers. People like Sophia Narwitz, Josh Strife Hayes, or Mandalore Gaming. Organizations with big websites and dozens of employees are just all liars. The truth is not in them. They'll play a game for 10 minutes and then base their review on what they read on the back of the box.