How we actually test a game before reviewing it

People sometimes assume reviewers just skim a trailer and wing it. For us it's the opposite — reviewing is slow, and that's deliberate.

Every game gets at least a few hours on two different phones: a current model and a deliberately older one. Performance matters. A game that stutters on last year's hardware is a game half our readers can't enjoy.

We note the small things: how long it takes to load, whether the tutorial is bearable, how the controls feel after your thumbs get tired. These are the details that store pages never mention and that make or break daily play.

Only after all that do we sit down to write. The score comes last, not first. If we can't explain why a game earned its number, we go back and play more.