How our ratings actually work

Our ratings run from 3.8 to 4.9, and there's a reason there's no ten-out-of-ten equivalent. No game is flawless, and pretending otherwise just makes the score meaningless.

A number for us bundles together how fun the game is, how it respects your time, how it runs, and whether it plays fair with in-app prompts. A great game with aggressive nagging loses points.

We don't compare across genres. A 4.4 arcade game and a 4.4 RPG aren't competing — they're each good at what they set out to do. Judge them against their own goals.

If you ever think a score is too high or too low, write to us. Some of our best discussions started with a reader who was annoyed at a number, and a couple of scores got revised because of it.

The rating is a starting point, not the whole review. The paragraphs are where the real opinion lives, so read those before you decide.