Heh, we're complete opposites, then. I've had to defend Gamespot, because so far they've only had TWO reviews I've ever disagreed with. They're usually exactly in tune with my own opinion.
I can't comment on those examples, except for RE4, which I don't doubt is one of the, if not the best game available for the Wii right now. It's a completely amazing game, even if it's just a straight port with new controls, that still makes it a completely amazing game - if maybe a bit older than the first time it showed up.
He never said the controls make it too easy, he meant they seem to make it more of an action game than an adventure game. The first Prime made it very obvious it's not an FPS because it didn't use the dual thumbstick control scheme. No need for precise aiming, more focus on tactics in battles, and exploration outside of them. That little nuance is gone in Corruption. I think that's what he wanted to point out. I do hear it's much more action oriented than the previous games, and less exploration based.
Gamespot's reviews are constantly 10% off the norm? Compared to what? The only sites I actually look at for serious reviews are IGN and Gamespot, and IGN seem to score good games even higher and bad games even lower. Gamespot are extremely good at avoiding handing out perfect ratings. IGN is worse at that. IGN are also much better at focusing so much on minor flaws in games that they consistently forget to mention some of the good things. Gamespot, in my opinion, make it perfectly clear exactly what's good and what's less good about every game they've reviewed lately. That, in combination with the score, paints a really clear picture to me. You shouldn't just go by the score alone, it's more of a compliment to the review itself.
Super Metroid you say? 8.5 seems right to me. Well, I might prefer it a bit closer to 9. Say... 8.8 or something like that. Why, what'd you rate it? Without being blinded by nostalgia, of course. I couldn't, I played Super Metroid for the first time a mere three years ago. I remember finding it too easy, actually, very uninteresting enemies, and extremely strange, floaty controls that took me hours to get used to. Seriously. However, it IS still one of the best exploration based games, the art is great and the music is fantastic. So 8.8 seems fine to me.