How we actually rate the games here

People ask what our ratings mean. Fair question — a number on its own tells you almost nothing.

We start by playing. Not a demo, not a trailer — the real thing, for at least a few evenings. If a game bores us or crashes constantly, that shows up in the score no matter how pretty it is.

Our scale runs from about 3.8 to 4.9, and yes, that's narrow on purpose. We don't cover games we'd rate lower, because why waste your time on things we wouldn't recommend at all?

A 4.6 like Big Rush Cast means we kept coming back on our own. A 3.9 means it's good but has a flaw worth mentioning. Read the review, not just the number — that's where the honesty lives.