The lack of instruction in MGR is odd. The first two tutorials are thrown at you, but later ones are just tucked away inside the VR Missions, so if a new player doesn't look there (perhaps assuming that the VR Mission content is all meant to be experienced post-play) they're going to miss out.
And the manual isn't any help. It's no more than a controller demo card that you see at conventions.
So, for someone who simply opens the retail copy, looks at the manual and plays through the game, it would be very easy to miss the dodge. You have to actually be digging into the game a little. While I would expect most on GAF to do so, the average gamer who picks his up at Best Buy probably isn't going to do that.
As a result, failure to convey that information is a fault of Platinum. If you're too lazy to include a proper manual, you need to ensure your tutorials are solid. Otherwise, the 90% of casual gamers that make up the majority of sales are likely to miss out. It would seem some reviewers did as well.
I've always believed that normal mode is how a game should be reviewed. The reason being is that "normal" is what the developer ostensibly tunes around. It's also the default, so it's what most players are likely to experience the first time through.
While I'll play favorite games on hard, if a game is not properly balanced for normal, then it deserves to be noted as a negative and scored appropriately, IMHO.
