Ethics

Reviews and articles can be the making or breaking of a game or hardware and for that reason, they're usually highly subjective. One man's trash can be another's treasure, so to speak. It is our aim to provide high-quality and factual reviews in order for you to have a clear picture if you haven't yet purchased something.

Ethics

Our articles are written by independent gamers and enthusiasts to ensure that there’s no conflict of interest. If we are invited* to preview or review a game as a part of an event this will be disclosed within the body of the article.

* Events attended that we've paid for aren't required for disclosure, as there’s no external influence in us being there.

We do receive games and hardware from publishers and manufacturers, however, this doesn't affect the review or the score it receives. If a game is buggy or has issues or hardware just isn't up to scratch, it will be mentioned in the review and scored appropriately. Scores aren't discussed externally prior to publishing such that there are no external influences.

Games and hardware sent to us is received on the basis that the item will be reviewed fairly and from a standard consumer's viewpoint, regardless of how that item was obtained. These items may also come with an embargo, which will be upheld in all cases to ensure fairness with other media outlets.

Finally, products may have been purchased by the author to review from their own money, though the same editorial standards apply.

I think your review is wrong because X, Y or Z!

That's fine - everyone has their opinions and we're not always going to see eye-to-eye. But, before you scream bloody murder, consider points that are made within the review to try and get the full picture of why the author came to that conclusion. With that in mind - feel free to ask the reviewer about their experiences more in the review's comments section, especially concerning things you think are incorrect - or may have answers to.

Changes to scores after publishing

Reviews are based upon the state of the game or product at the time of review. This means that we don't change scores retroactively for a review, though we will add updates and disclaimers to reviews where appropriate. Our scores are also aggregated elsewhere on the web, and those scores also cannot be changed once published.

In today's landscape of day one patches and ongoing updates, the author may - at their own discretion - choose to supplement the original review with a "Review Addendum" article. This leaves the original review and score intact, but can help show the progress or regressions that has happened post-review.

What do the scores mean?

Scores are based on a scale of 1 - 10 where .5’s can be given in light of the item not being quite good enough for the higher score but should be considered “better” in it’s given range. Generally, scoring follows the reasonings below;

1 - 2.5

The game is broken, or is unplayable because of some major bugs or problems present at the time of the review.

3 - 3.5

The game works, but it is largely unenjoyable for reasons stated throughout the review.

4 - 4.5

There’s some enjoyable aspects of the game, but it’s mostly an underwhelming game.

5 - 5.5

An average game, where the positives are equally matched by the negatives.

6 - 6.5

The game is mostly enjoyable, but has a few negatives that can be outweighed by positives.

7 - 7.5

This is a good game. There may be a few negatives present, but they don’t detract from the overall experience.

8 - 8.5

A great game, with either minimal to no negative aspects.

9 - 9.5

Excellent game. One that you should be looking out for.

10

Outstanding. This game should already be in your collection.

Scoring for Downloadable Content and Add-ons

Downloadable content and add-ons are reviewed based on their own merits and content, and try to avoid being influenced by content from the base game on which they are built where possible.

Kickstarter, Patreon etc.

As independent authors, our team are free to support the people and projects they choose and internal records are maintained to ensure no conflicts of interest appear as a part of that freedom of choice.

Giveaways

Occasionally, we run promotions offering a game or prize. These competitions shouldn’t be seen as the endorsement of a product or item, unless specifically mentioned in the article that we approve of it, or have reviewed the item favourably. In the event that the prize has been supplied to us via a third party, or if the prize is being sent directly from the third party, this will be noted within the content of the competition.