How We Actually Decide a Score

People ask us a lot how a game ends up with, say, a 4.2 instead of a 4.5. The honest answer is that it comes out of a group argument, not a formula. But there's method under the mess.

We look at three rough things: does the game do what it promises, does it respect your time, and does it have some spark of its own. A game can be technically flawless and still score middling if it's forgettable.

Genre matters here. We don't judge a two-minute arcade racer by the same yardstick as a forty-hour RPG. A casual game earning a high score means it nailed being casual, not that it competes with epics.

We also replay before finalising. First impressions lie in both directions — some games grow on you, others wear thin fast. Sleeping on a score has saved us from more than one embarrassing overreaction.

In the end a number is just shorthand. The words around it carry the real opinion, so please read those too.