It really is bad design. I have no idea how it became a meme when the criticism is so obviously linked to this
I think they just summed it up really badly. At the end of an IGN score, you’ve got compliments and criticisms at the bottom, summed up in short sentences.
‘over-reliance on Water Pokémon’ or ‘some routes are boringly easy’ would both be infinitely better sentences than ‘too much water’, which on the face of it, and without context, does sound like a bullshit bullet point.
The “too much water” was intended to talk about too many water pokemon, as well as the poor navigation of water levels.
To me, when people try to discredit ign because of “too much water” I immediately know their opinion is worthless because they didnt read the review and couldn’t piece together what the criticism was in the first place.