How we decide what to play and how we score it

People sometimes ask how a game ends up on PocketPlay Review with a number next to it, so here's the unglamorous truth. It usually starts with one of us getting curious, or a reader dropping a suggestion in our inbox.

Then we play. Properly. Not a quick tutorial skim but enough hours to hit the point where a game shows its real shape. For an RPG that might mean ten hours; for an arcade game like Coin Strike, it means playing until I stop having new thoughts about it.

Scores are deliberately subjective. We don't have a secret formula weighing graphics and sound to two decimals. The number reflects how we felt after playing, and the review text explains why. If two of us disagree, we leave the disagreement in.

We don't take payment for coverage and we don't trade scores for early access. That's the whole policy, really. Play it, be honest, hit publish.