How we actually test a game before writing about it

People sometimes assume a review is written after an afternoon with a game. Ours take longer, mostly because the interesting things only show up after the novelty fades.

Every title gets installed on at least two phones — one recent, one a few years old — so we can see how it holds up on weaker hardware. We play across different situations: at a desk, on the move, with and without headphones.

Throughout, we keep a running log. Control comfort, battery drain, heat, loading times, how the settings menu is laid out, and the moments that made us smile or sigh. Numbers come from that log, not from a gut feeling at the end.

Only then do we talk it over as a team and settle on a score. If opinions split, we say so in the review rather than averaging it into something bland. The goal is always to describe the experience honestly, not to tick boxes.