Stealth in DM is all about the backstabbing. Again, like I posted two minutes ago, "if you don't care about the combat you probably shouldn't care about this game." It's no biggie, it's just a game that wasn't designed with your tastes in mind.
Dark Messiah has stealth. Or at least the demo had it. I really don't see where that reviewer is coming from.
But anyway, if you don't care about the combat you probably shouldn't care about this game.
His complaints about the usefulness of abilities are kind of silly. It would be the same thing as complaining about Deus Ex's multiple ways of doing things. "I finished Deus Ex by headshooting everyone with the sniper rifle, therefore all other things you can do in the game are useless." It's an idiotic way of seeing things. The feel I got from the demo is that each ability is as useful as you want to makre it.
The combat is. But the game itself is nothing like Oblivion. Basically it's an FPS that focus on melee. Although magic and stealth can be pretty awesome too.