Heh, I never heard of "The Player." I watched the youtube vid, and it sure as hell looks interesting, but I can't say anything else about it. However, your issue is with reviewers nowadays just slamming it. I haven't read a review for anything in a long while and took it seriously. Hell, funnily enough, I think the last review I read was for the very first Lords of Shadow when it came out years ago. I won't say what it said, so not to start another flame war, but I'll just say I disagreed with it. However, I did read several other reviews that said the opposite, as well, and I agreed with those. However, I haven't read any review since then because after getting into a week-long heated argument with my best friend about said reviews, I had an epiphany. There are no neutral reviewers. People will either praise something, or say it's complete shit. There is no, "If you like this, then you'll love this," in reviews anymore, it's just "This is gold, watch it," or "This is shit, avoid it."
Hell, personally, after reading these posts before-hand, I am curious if anyone saw Mad Max: Fury Road last year. It was over-the-top, edgy, and was almost nothing but action. But, it didn't get slammed by reviews, but it also didn't sell.