A Great Game Still Needs to Run Well

It's easy to review a game on a brand-new flagship phone and call it smooth. But most people aren't playing on the latest hardware, and a game that stutters on a two-year-old device isn't the same experience.

That's why we keep an older phone in the testing rotation on purpose. If a game runs beautifully on new hardware but crawls on modest devices, that goes in the review — it's information you deserve before you download.

Some of our favorite picks earned points partly for being light. Big Bass 3in1, for instance, loads fast and stays smooth even on older phones, which matters more for a quick casual game than fancy graphics ever would.

Performance isn't the whole story, obviously. A boring game that runs perfectly is still boring. But when two games are close, the one that respects your hardware and your battery wins, and we score with that in mind.