We quite liked here at GamePro and gave it 3.5 stars, with our reviewer Tom Price noting that it has "awesome character design and customization" as well as "innovative concepts for class-based multiplayer shooters" but that it "doesn't fully execute all of its good ideas." Check out our full review .

Not everyone agreed on Brink's qualities and flaws, though, with Metascores for the game ranging from 25 (from 1up's D-grade review) all the way up to 88 from IncGamers. Criticisms largely stemmed from the lack of single player functionality, poor AI for bot players, buggy netcode and a feeling of untapped potential -- along with the fact that there are no female characters amongst the 100 billion possible character combinations. Praise was heaped upon its distinctive visual style, parkour-inspired movement and gameplay that necessitates teamwork and communication.

That, surely, should be the end of it. Some people liked it, some people really liked it, some people were indifferent and some people thought it was a festering pile of chocobo manure. These represent differences of opinion -- one of the things that makes us individuals. Reviews are, at heart, the opinions of an individual, and therefore it's up to the reader to determine whether they agree with the reviewer's points and, by extension, to make a decision whether or not to purchase a product. Reading more reviews gives the potential purchaser a wider range of opinions to consider -- and this isn't even taking into account the opinions of their friends, whom they may trust even more than the "professionals."

The concept of "differences of opinion" seemingly wasn't enough for one of Voodoo Extreme's writers, who publicly accused Joystiq's 2-star review of "corruption" based on the circumstantial evidence that he hadn't seen the reviewer online on his regular Xbox 360 Gamertag for longer than a couple of hours, and that said Gamertag only reflected 220G worth of Gamerscore from Achievements that could have been unlocked easily within a couple of hours of gameplay. The writer's comments have since been removed from Voodoo Extreme (without his permission or knowledge, if his tweets are to be believed) and Joystiq's review has been updated with a clarification noting that the reviewer played the game for 12 hours across both single player and multiplayer modes.

The argument has been raging across Twitter all day, with both sides calling each other out for "unprofessionalism" and frankly, it's something I'd rather steer well clear of. But the whole thing does highlight one interesting thing, though -- to be a dissenting voice that expresses an opinion markedly different from what is perceived as the "norm" is likely to attract criticism. This doesn't make your dissenting opinion wrong -- but it means you'd better be ready with some convincing arguments to defend it. Similarly, if you're the type to criticize these dissenting opinions, you'd better have some good arguments that go beyond circumstantial evidence. Imagine if Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth were arguing over Brink in court and you'll get the picture.