I agree with you in theory...
...but the fact is, Takahashi ignored a fundamental RPG mechanic as he played the game for review. There is no defense, no justification. Games are built around complex systems of rules; ignoring them alters the gameplay experience in a very basic way. That it is possible to play and ignore them in Mass Effect is besides the point; the ability to "level up" is core to the experience of every RPG and Takahashi should have been more thorough. It's easy to be lazy when "work" falls so close to "play," but that doesn't excuse the mistake. Takahashi owed his readers, not to mention BioWare and Microsoft, a retraction and a clarification, both of which he delivered in the linked article.
I'm not saying this to defend Mass Effect - I came down pretty hard on it myself in my own review for UGO - but rather to defend the ethics of journalism in general. On the most basic level, Takahashi wrote up a critical assessment of a product which he himself had not fully researched. He was called on his shoddy journalism by knowledgeable readers and subsequently came clean.
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