Seems like they focused a lot on the bad parts, while saying they weren't too terrible. I found this rather odd. If they weren't that bad, why did you focus so much of the article on them?
I noticed that too. The downsides didn't bother me playing the game, but reading about them makes them more noticeable. Like the fact that my warrior can see traps and locks. And the fact that a low level player can get ahold of some great gear early on, with the help of strategy guides/etc. Although, Without the help of a strategy guide, I doubt you would look in the right place at the right time to get any major armor early on. Also, since the review focuses on the bad and then goes on to give it an 86, you must think they somehow mistargeted their review. Perhaps they wanted to vent on the bads, but they obviously didn't show off enough goods to prove the 86, even though anyone who has played the game knows its worth at least an 86.
Well I spent several hours today playing MW and I'm afraid it's not as good as I'd hoped. It's not bad, though. You have to work to enjoy it. I'm still at level 1 though a few skills went up.
There are quite a few people who have trouble getting into MW. I'll use my friend as an example. I told him how awesome MW was for 3 days and really got his hopes up on an amazing game. He finally gets it and expects it to have all kinds of amazing combat like an FPS game and got really let down because he couldn't start out at level 1 and kill everything. After 2 days, I thought he was just going to give up on the game. He had created 3 different characters, each time getting to level 2 and giving up. Then on the 4th day, he says "I finally figured out how to play the game". It was 3pm and he hadn't even gone to bed yet! Now he is loving the game, mainly because he finally understands how to do a lot of things. This is just one of those games that you have to read the manual and other things to understand what you are doing. Some might even need to read message boards and fan sites. Just because there is SO MUCH, you might get confused/overwhelmed at first and get pissed off.
I haven't read the review yet but my biggest gripes are the poor interface, small inventory icons, lack of detailed spell and item information and lack of combat feedback and the fact my spells can be blocked by incoming missiles. At first I thought that was neato but it gets old quick especially since wasting a spell is a big deal.
To address some of your complaints.
Interface: Why is it poor? The interface in my mind is perfect, it is very small and minimalist so it isn't cutting into the actual screen. Right clicking brings up the full windows and you can even customize (in game) which windows come up when you right click and which windows show down at the bottom (health bars / etc). You can also move or resize any of the popup windows, which means you can make your view look how you want it. I don't see how this could be better.
Small Inventory Icons: You just mean the icons look too small in inventory? As opposed to really big inventory icons? I have so many things in my inventory right now, that if the icons were bigger, I would have to scroll for minutes to see everything. So the only thing I can say is that there is a reason for their size.
Detailed spell / item info: Did you disable the popups? Otherwise these popups show all the info on every item and spell. You get the dmg modifiers, skill type, durability of the item, effects of a reagant, value.
Combat feedback: Can't complain with you there, there isn't really any. But this plays towards some of the challenges in the game.
Later