When I went to the GDC in 2004, one of the issues that was brought up in one of the more academic panels was the attempt at defining games as art, and a lack of game critics as one of the barriers to entry in the art world.
Criticism is not the same as reviewing, and it's for this reason that I think the popular site Metacritic is misnamed; it really should be Metareview.
The purpose of a review is simply to tell the reader whether or not they should buy the product. A critic is different from a reviewer, as critics are supposed to understand the object in depth and explain the merits and importance of a piece of work.
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