[Damien_Azreal]

No.

Development time should have no affect on the final score/judgments of a review. Reviews are supposed to be based on the quality of the title itself... story, presentation, gameplay, characters, sound design... all that.

Using the development cycle as a positive/negative in a review would seem petty and childish. Instantly removing any validity the review had of being a serious judgment of the quality of said product.

There are games that have incredibly short development cycles, and yet those are not listed as pluses or minuses. And, the 1997 to 2004 development cycle of HL2 was not used in reviews for it. So, to me.. it should not be mentioned in any review as it is not relevant. A game could be in development for months... and be awesome or horrible, be in for years... and be awesome or horrible.

But, honestly, far to many "professional" reviewers would make way to many bad jokes and stupid puns over the games troubled development cycle.. and to me, would completely kill any value I would place in said review.