head to head
L.A. Noire asks more than 100 Christmas Cats, and the gap is optimization.

Variance · Systems & Chaos
Festive hidden-cat scanning with nothing beneath the cozy surface.

Optimization · Systems & Chaos
1940s detective procedural built around crime scenes and reading scripted interrogation tells.
100 Christmas Cats leans Variance (Systems & Chaos); L.A. Noire leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
L.A. Noire leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
100 Christmas Cats
Clicking found cats is effortless
L.A. Noire
Light shooting and driving, very forgiving
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
100 Christmas Cats
Static Christmas scenes never adapt
L.A. Noire
Suspects follow fixed scripts, never adapt
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
100 Christmas Cats
Hidden cat placements are the only unknown
L.A. Noire
Interrogation tells and clues hidden until discovered
L.A. Noire leans clearly harder on optimization.
100 Christmas Cats
Patient scanning is the lone technique
L.A. Noire
Evidence chains and question choices have fixed correct answers
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.