This all seems very familiar. A review comes out that isn't as favorable as some would like. The reviewer is insulted and then the publication is dismissed. It reminds me of:
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=75870
Indie game development is doing great nowadays. You have games like Angry Birds for the masses. Braid for puzzle platformers. Minecraft for builders.
Depending on your definition of indie games you have great ones like Mount and Blade, Amnesia, etc. I would imagine those shops started out about as big as BFC a few years ago.
You can't charge full game prices and not expect to be compared to other games for the same price. If you want the indie label and the review discount then you price yourself accordingly. If you want to compete at full price then you compete with the big shops.
CMx1 got GREAT reviews from the big magazines whether they catered to twitch gamers or not.
How many people here are using the standard tabbed UI controls for their games? How many are using the text file that a user made to change the hotkeys? If you are a reviewer you are using the stock game and basing your review on that then IMHO the UI is backwards. If you hit a key and your tank crew bails out rather than prowl forward looking for a target based on which tabbed window is selected then it is probably a bad UI decision.