Asking that reviewers actually finish the game is a move I am totally behind.
should be a standard. Trying to twist that into something bad is dumb and immature.
Well, you don't see movie/music critics write a review without actually watching/listening them so I don't see why it has to be different for a game.
Although, when it comes to DS it doesn't surprise me at all. Listening to KindaFunny, there is one guy who stopped within first 5 hours. Another, also gave up on it (almost) until something hooked him during that time period. If you read the reviews, almost all of them mention that game starts extremely slow. So Sony/KojiPro knew that initial few hours may shape a narrative which is not truthful over the course of the game. Hence, this mandatory guideline to finish the game before writing a review.
Ok. What do you want me to say? A game that looks to have a lot of boring elements probably won't play well with the general public? That a number of reviews seem inflated when you look at the score in comparison to what they're actually writing down in terms of their experiences? The Game Informer one stands out to me in that the reviewer sounded miserable playing the game but gave it a 7 anyway. That's not a good thing.
Why do you think that is the case? That words aren't matching up to final score? Most of them mention that they can't say anything beyond Chapter 3, so maybe things pick up steam at that point forward, and just maybe with all its flaw(s), it delivers a satisfying conclusion when the end credits roll?
I don't expect things to be much different when normal people on this forum to get to play the game too, patience runs thin on this place and I expect lot to give up on it due to a slow start. But, to balance it all out there will be plenty who'll point out positives after putting an extended time in it. The game as a product in itself is divisive.