In all the hubbub about the Jeff Gerstmann firing over at Gamespot, people may have forgotten an important fact; the review is still up on the site.  Sure, there's a little note at the bottom stating that the review "has been updated to include differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions and a clarification on the game's multiplayer mode.", but I'm sure that neither Gamespot nor parent company CNet would make any real changes to the review.  A move like that would undermine whatever's left of their journalistic integrity, and nobody would be stupid enough to do that, right?  Right?!?

Wrong.

A cached EB Games page shows the original, untouched review, and when it is compared to the review that is up now it's obvious that extensive edits have been made since the firing.  The first paragraph in particular has been completely changed, with all references to the unlikeable characters removed and replaced with a general overview of the game.  The sugar coating doesn't stop there, though.  All mentions of the shoddy AI have been removed, and an out of place reference to the game doing "a good job of moving the action around" has been added (this statement was mentioned by Gerstmann in his video review).  

Strangely, there are some additions to the review that specifically point out some of the game's shortcomings.  The edited version calls the poor execution of the multiplayer features a "bummer", while the original referred to the multiplayer mode as "a great idea that's mucked up by a few different things."  While it isn't certain exactly who did the editing, it is clear that the editorial note does not come close to describing the amount of changes made to the review.  If this is Gamespot's idea of damage control, they may be in need of some new spin doctors.