head to head
vs
Battle CityvsDark Messiah of Might and Magic
Battle City leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Dark Messiah of Might and Magic leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Battle CityDark Messiah of Might and Magic
Axis by axis
Execution7 vs 7
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance2 vs 1
Battle City leans harder on variance: Spawn order and power-ups add mild randomness per stage
Optimization4 vs 5
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic leans harder on optimization: kick-into-spikes environment setups are learnable
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.