Edge Magazine gave Hydrophobia a 3 out of 10, which has immediately resulted in no small about of bitching from the developers who claim the reviewer didn’t play the game.

This is why game reviews usually give average games a 6 or 7 out of 10. It keeps the developers and publishers happy, which means that they continue to send goodies and review copies and - perhaps most importantly - stops them from whining about unfair scores.

Comparable to this (only much, much more childish) is action taken against Amiga Power by Worms developer Team17 back in the 90s for giving their racing game, ATR: All Terrain Racing, a low score (you can read a little more about this here).