From 1988-1993 when I was at MicroProse, game journalists were overt in their corruption. The magazines straight up asked for bribes for good reviews. From 1993-1997, at id Software, the journalists had pulled in their horns a bit. Instead of just asking for money, they would pull shit like "We're planning to review Doom 2 in our next issue. Do you want to buy a full-page ad?" There was always a clear implication that a bigger ad would get a better review. From 1997-2009 I worked at Ensemble Studios, and all our marketing was by MicroSoft so I have no idea what shenanigans journalists committed in that time period.