How We Actually Decide On A Score

People ask what a 4.2 versus a 4.6 really means, so here's the honest answer: our scores are one editor's gut feeling after playing, sanity-checked by whoever else has tried the game.

We weigh how a game fits its platform heavily. A brilliant idea with terrible touch controls loses points, because a phone game has to feel right in your hands first.

We also care about whether a game respects your time. Aggressive interruptions and endless grind pull a score down no matter how pretty the game is.

No score is objective and we don't pretend otherwise. Read the words around the number — that's where the actual verdict lives.