I completely agree with not liking "Defending my writers’ competence when they “score” a game lower than the average for a game.". If a game is lacking, its lacking and that should be conveyed honestly to the game buying public. No one, especially in this economy, wants to blow 50-60$ on a game that is highly publicized and promoted only to find out that its bad. I like to read GamingShogun.com for game reviews because (and yes, I'm completely biased) I personally know several of the guys that write the reviews and they're not industry puppets, they just people like me who love to play video games.