Granted, the “nickel and diming” of hotline numbers (1900, 0900, etc) was nowhere as bad as today’s cash shops, but a lot of us simply forgot they were always hungry for all our money
Here’s a bunch other hotline ads for you to peruse - https://www.retromags.com/gallery/category/1729-telephone-hotlines/
PS: I never understood these american numbers that used letters, how were you supposed to know what was the actual number?
The difference between games journalism in the past and today isn’t that the reviews were more honest and reliable back in the day, it’s that the magazines provided more stuff in addition to the reviews (previews, tips, etc) that made them worthwhile.