i think i have this figured out.
I just finished listening to the 1up podcast following the whole Gamespot-gate.
What better way to give your readers confidence that you aren't being bought off than taking an already well selling game and giving it an unrealistically low score?
Shane and co. all discuss about how they shut pandora's box - how they regain trust, and this seems to be the simplest and easiest way to disprove any claims of advertising related bais : stick it to the big name game of the moment.
No one would believe a low balling of Mario, AC is a convenient , cross platform, and easy target following the Jade/Hype-hate rollercoaster.
Well, I saw the 1Up Show segment on it, and Crispin's distaste for the game was clear. He said he never wanted to play it again and had no interest in a sequel. If that's what you think, 4.5 seems fair enough. All the production values in the world don't mean you should give a game you hated playing an above average score (this is why I've never seen Pearl Harbour or Armageddon, for example...).
OTOH, am I imagining it or did you also hear them say on the podcast that they don't do exclusive previews, in an attempt to regain trust? And yet...EGM ran a Halo 3 exclusive AFAIK, and 1Up has a God of War PSP exclusive this week. I don't even have access to the mags so there may be some wrinkle I'm missing here. Did they say this was a new policy or for EGM only or something?