How Pocket Verdict actually reviews a game

People sometimes ask how long we spend with a game before writing. The short answer is: it depends on the genre. A casual tap game needs a few hours. An RPG or strategy title might take a couple of weeks before we feel honest publishing a score.

We take notes constantly. First impressions in the opening ten minutes, how the controls feel, whether we come back the next day without being nagged. That last point tells us more than almost anything else.

We don't average scores by committee. One person plays and writes, then the rest of us poke holes in it. If the reviewer loved something we're suspicious of, we make them defend it.

The goal is always the same: tell you what it's actually like to hold this game in your hands. Numbers help, but the paragraphs are where the real review lives.