How we actually review a mobile game

People sometimes assume reviews are a matter of playing for ten minutes and guessing. Ours aren't, and I want to be transparent about that.

We install the game on more than one device, because performance and controls can differ wildly. We play far enough to reach whatever the game considers its 'real' content — no scoring something on the tutorial alone.

Then we sit with it. Does it stay fun, or does the novelty wear off by day three? Does it respect your time? We take notes as we go, not from memory afterward.

Only then does a score get attached, and the score is always the least important part. Read the words. That's where the actual opinion lives.