This seems to be an alarming trend even in the wake of the Jeff Gerstmann debacle. I really hope that review sites keep sounding the alarm when a company tries to buy a review (like recently happened with AC2). There are more small, independent, blog-style gaming sites these days that love to get the scoops on this stuff and try to let people know.

I'm personally sick of the whole review scoring system. Numbers mean so little. It's literally a scandal if a AAA title gets less than a 9.5/10. Even worse, almost no game gets less than a 7. That is a terrible score and might as well be a 1 from the eyes of the gaming community. I can't remember the last time I saw a game get something like a 5.

I'd rather read the review and ignore the number. I don't need the number to tell me anything about the game. If the written review mentions aspects I like or dislike I can judge them by my own personal tastes. I also find it useful to find a handful of reviewers that have taste much like my own and get their honest impressions since I'm likely to feel much the same.