Yeah, I remember this. Game reviewers have never really had a lot of journalistic integrity to my recollection. It's very opinionated, particularly in old magazines, in which they seem to try to slam anything they don't like in order to appeal to kids.
I take it with a grain of salt. Ideally, if you're judging anything, you should only compare it to a similar product, if you compare it to another product at all. I'm not really sure if game reviewers had a lot of skill qualifications, though, other than the ability to write and play video games, to be honest.