German magazine Computer Bild Spiele has reported on its website their upcoming issue will not be featuring a review of Assassin's Creed II, due to the fact publisher Ubisoft would not supply them with a review copy lest they were guaranteed a "sehr gut" (A-grade).

The magazine writes:

Our reviews are tough, but fair. We will not give up our independent scores for the sake of a timely review. This holds true for “Assassin’s Creed 2″. The publisher asked us to guarantee the score ’sehr gut’, otherwise we would not receive a review copy, thus we will publish our review in next month’s issue. We’d be more than glad to give the game a ’sehr gut’, but only if it deserves it.

Humorously, Bild Spiele has taken it even to the cover; as you can see here it reads, "Assassin's Creed 2 SKANDAL! Hersteller wollte Garantle fur Testurtell ..sehr gut", which translates into, "...publisher wanted us to guarantee score of Sehr Gut." Good on you, German gaming media.

Though very troubling, bribing for review scores is sadly understandable. The part we don't get though, as with the Batman: Arkham Asylum controversy recently, is this game will actually be great. 

Indeed, it appears Ubisoft was concerned about this particular publication's "toughness" in reviewing, but isn't that the reason we look to reviewers? For tough, fair reviews? So why put the effort in, particularly when reputation is on the line?