Better than what the "professional reviewer" would have you think
On the allegorical, you should get many of these references if you've been playing since the NES era. If not, you may or may not pick up on them.
Where the reviewers really get lost are the technical references. Many reviewers caught onto the long load times when in an elevator (snide comments by Matt Hazard helps), but catch on to the repetitive music, repetitive and short list of enemy and hero quips, convieniently placed cover and explosive items. My favorite technical reference that seems to be lost on most people is the crappy enemy AI. It's only fairly recently, where the enemy AI catches on to run to avoid grenades or to take cover where appropriate. Not here. The enemies get up from behind cover, in full shooters stance with bullets whizzing by to get a clean shot at you (another technical reference... everyone else is a lousy shot). Don't you remember the games that did that? It wasn't too long ago!
Frankly, the game is slyer than what the reviewers would have you believe.
Great, but does that mean this game is good?
Well, it's good for what it is and what it's meant to be.
This game is a great distraction, something to pick up when you need a break from fragging or being fragged on Killzone 2 or just something simple when you get home from work/school to unwind if you don't like the Zen quality of Flower. For trophy whores, most of the trophies are pretty easy to grab, but there are a few difficult ones. Something else people haven't mentioned... the camera works very well, suprisingly! The tongue in cheek humor is terrific and with GOB and NPH doing the voiceovers, you have yourself a little diamond in the rough.
Bottomline, it's a SOLID rental, but if you have $50 (yes, $49.99, not $59.99) to burn or the trade in credits to boot... pick it up. You play it and put it on the shelf, but I bet that in summer when the good new games are in short supply, you might just put this back in your system for a quick playthough again.