How we review

1Which games we consider

Online games that players in the UK can join today in a browser, on a phone, a PC or a console. Big releases and small free games are judged the same way.

2How we play

Each game is played online for long enough to know it well: with friends in private sessions and with strangers in public lobbies or matchmaking. If we cannot play a game properly online, we do not rate it.

3What a rating weighs

• Online play: matchmaking, connection and playing as a mixed-ability group.
• Community tools: chat filters, blocking, reporting, private lobbies and protection for younger players.
• Fair costs: what is free, what extras cost and whether anything sold changes play.
• The game itself: controls, depth, art and sound.

4From rating to band

One editorial rating out of five, in tenths, sets the band on a server row:

• Instant classic: One of the best online games we have played. Bring friends.
• Great lobby: Excellent, with a small caveat or two.
• Good with the right group: Very good for the right players; the report says who.
• For fans: Worth it if the genre is already your thing.

5The filters

The tabs above the server list read only facts we record for each game: the usual shape of a session, whether it runs in a browser and whether it is free to start. They never change a rating.

6Chat and money

Every report says who you meet in a game, how to set the chat up, and what it can cost after you start, including premium currencies, seasonal passes and paid random items when a game has them.

7What we never do

No paid placements, no sponsored ratings, no invented player numbers and no reviews written from trailers or press releases.

8Keeping reviews current

Links, platforms and prices are checked regularly. When a big update changes a game, we play it again before touching its rating.