I got some clarification from the same guy, BTW. Mainly on what the hell "pre-review" means.
Reviews need to be done based on the final master version and that's not given out until 1-2 weeks from release via digital download (obviously to privileged reviewers), but because the game is too long to evaluate in that length of time, some very lucky assh- er people get to play a complete, but not perfectly mastered version starting now (or rather a couple of days ago) so they can outline their thoughts and take some mental (or even actual) notes about what to look for when they receive the final, presumably bug-free version. Obviously, these people are under heavy embargoes and can't speak a word of it. But, neither myself nor my source are under any such thing, so here ya go, lol.
Reviews need to be done based on the final master version and that's not given out until 1-2 weeks from release via digital download (obviously to privileged reviewers), but because the game is too long to evaluate in that length of time, some very lucky assh- er people get to play a complete, but not perfectly mastered version starting now (or rather a couple of days ago) so they can outline their thoughts and take some mental (or even actual) notes about what to look for when they receive the final, presumably bug-free version. Obviously, these people are under heavy embargoes and can't speak a word of it. But, neither myself nor my source are under any such thing, so here ya go, lol.
Does s/he have any impressions from these privileged people (who *may* have broken NDA)?