Methodology

HOW WE RATE

Every score on this site is built from the same four criteria, weighted equally. Here's what each one means and how we test it.

1. Feel

Does aiming and moving feel responsive? We look at input latency, hit registration and how predictable movement is. A shooter that feels laggy or floaty loses points here regardless of how much content it has. Tested across at least three sessions on different days, on a mid-range laptop over a normal home connection.

2. Lobbies

Are there real players at normal hours? We check matchmaking at morning, evening and late-night UK time. A brilliant game with empty servers scores low, because you can't play it. Bot-filled lobbies count against a game if the bots are presented as players.

3. Fairness

Can you compete without paying? Cosmetic-only shops are fine. Anything that sells power — better weapons, faster unlocks that matter, pay-to-skip — is marked down hard. We also note how intrusive the shop is, even when it's cosmetic-only.

4. Staying power

Is it still fun after round ten? First impressions are cheap. We keep playing until the novelty wears off and then ask whether there's a reason to come back — progression, depth, variety, or just a loop that holds up.

The score

Each criterion gets a mark out of ten; the overall score is the average, shown to one decimal place. Stars are a rough visual of the same number. We don't round up to be kind and we don't score games we haven't spent real time in.

What doesn't affect the score

How popular a game is. How good it looks in screenshots. Whether the developer has ever contacted us (none have). Whether we personally like the genre — a great tower-defence game would still score well here even though we prefer arena shooters.

Corrections

If a game changes — a big patch, a shop overhaul, a server shutdown — we revisit the score. If we've got something wrong, tell us and we'll check it.