Reviews are one of the only weapons and Outlets that consumers have anymore. Especially a dire need because game journalism is so incredibly incredibly corrupt and inept. So the bitchy tone of this article certainly does track.
If Amazon has shown us anything though, its that reviews can be bought and sold en masse. I'm not sure how Steam reviews are mitigating this, but I fear that it will be undermined soon
You have to have a copy of the game on Steam to review it. It will automatically say you got it for free if it's a key from Steamworks (given to the press usually). This means the costs of faking reviews would outpace the volume really early.
Do you actually look at Amazon reviews and trust them now though? They may have proven they can pay to put them there, doesn't mean anyone cares about what they have to say... Though I'm probably overestimating the general population of Amazon shoppers