"Pro" Reviewer Admits Mistake - Changes his Mind about Game
Dean Takahashi from the Mercury News has admitted on his blog that he didn't play Mass Effect correctly and has apologized for his previous scathing review of the game. His mistake came when he forgot to level up his characters in order to make them stronger - the basic principle behind any RPG. Dean admits that reviewing games is not his full time job, but that's no excuse for such a blunder. He also admits to not having finished the game before reviewing it, which is outright unacceptable.
I have a lot of respect for Dean since he called out Microsoft on their $800 Halo 3 bribes and sent his back to them, but I can't excuse what he did. I applaud him for being honest though since this type of stuff happens all the time with the major gaming sites, but they'll never admit it. (Just look at all the reviewers who bash the Wii's wiimote as imprecise simply because they don't know how to use it properly.) His biggest fault was to not finish the game, and when I finally get to writing it up you'll see how actually finishing a game is one of the basic rules you need to follow in order to write a respectable review.
Dean's lost a lot of credibility with this admission, but he seems like a straight shooter. He better work on his review MO.
