How we actually decide on a score

People ask why one game gets a 4.6 and another a 4.1, so here's the honest answer: it's a conversation, not a formula. But there's a rough structure behind it.

We weigh how the game plays, how it handles on ordinary phones, how the controls feel, and whether it respects your time and battery. A gorgeous game that eats your battery in twenty minutes loses points, no matter how it looks.

We also factor in whether the game is honest about itself. Something that promises to be a quick arcade time-killer and delivers exactly that can score high. A game that oversells and underdelivers gets marked down.

No number is final until at least one other person on the team plays the game too. Fresh eyes catch things the first reviewer got used to. Then we write down why the score landed where it did — that reasoning is the whole review.