Which game genres eat your battery fastest

Battery life is the quiet deal-breaker in mobile gaming. We've started logging drain on every review, and the differences between genres are bigger than you'd think.

Racing and 3D RPGs are the heavy hitters. All those particles, lighting effects and constant redraws keep the GPU busy, and the phone warms up accordingly. Expect a chunky dent in half an hour and plan to plug in for long sessions.

On the other end, hand-painted adventures and simple casual games barely register. A static, stylised scene asks almost nothing of the hardware, so you can play for an hour on the train and still have plenty left for the ride home.

If a game runs hot, check its settings first. A lot of titles hide a resolution or frame-rate cap that cuts drain dramatically with no real loss to the fun. Turning off background music and vibration helps a little too.