How we actually test a game before reviewing it

People sometimes ask how long we play before writing a review. The honest answer is: until we have an opinion we'd stand behind. For a short adventure that might be one sitting; for an RPG it's many hours across several days.

We always test on two phones — a mid-range one and something a few years old. A game can feel great on a flagship and stutter miserably on the device most people actually own, and that gap matters more than any screenshot.

We check the boring stuff too: does progress survive a force-close, how long are load screens, does the game demand a connection it shouldn't. We force-close apps on purpose just to see if the save holds. You'd be amazed how many fail that.

Finally we sit on the review for a day before publishing. First impressions can be too generous or too harsh; a night's distance usually tells us which. Only then does a score go up.