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Great Gamers Not Always the Best Reviewers
An editorial posted on The Adrenaline Vault posits that talented gamers are not always the best reviewers because of the necessity for those with elite skills to care as much as they do about their performance. The best reviewers, on the other hand, are generally somewhat detached from the subject material. From the article: "Spending 50 hours playing an offering when you are focused exclusively on trying to win certainly would yield very different insights than spending the same 50 hours trying to evaluate the title's strengths and weaknesses to help inform the general public about purchasing decisions." Kyle Orland's Video Game Ombudsman has further analysis on this subject.
Really, it is kind of silly that game reviews have tried to emulate the whole movie review system. Not only is game play a much more individual experience than movies because it depends on the player, not merely the game itself. Depending on skills or strengths, a good game fro one person is a waste of time for someone else. Personally, I think the Penny Arcade guys have it right. No rankings or stars or whatever. Just what they enjoyed, why the liked it, and what other things they have liked in the past. Really, it is the context this provides that is almost as important as anything they say about the game itself.