I get what Luigi Dude is saying. For a game that gets their highest score, he spends a good deal of time ragging on the flaws of it, in no uncertain terms and not with any assuaging language. Yet it still gets that score.
Now I'm not about to say he probably got goodies or money from PR departments, but I will say that it has happened before, for less important games. And when Gamespot got busted for it, notice how 1up held a mini-rally against said practice, even though they reveal it was only a short walk. You'd imagine that maybe, probably the PR guy went to their offices too? And that the protest irks of projection all over.
In fact, to really hammer in on why that "protest" bugs me, was because of the total insignificance of it all. If they really wanted to impress people, they should have started a strict "no press goodies" policy and probably sent back most of it (keeping, maybe, the pens). But there was utter silence on that end.