head to head
Buster Bros. asks more than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the gap is execution.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Arcade positioning and pop-order planning against deterministic bouncing balloons.

Optimization · Practiced Mastery
A sprawling open-world crime epic with RPG-style character stats across a whole state.
Buster Bros. leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Buster Bros. leans clearly harder on execution.
Buster Bros.
Dodging splitting balloons while firing demands precise positioning
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Flying school and drive-bys need decent hands
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Buster Bros.
Balloons bounce on pure deterministic physics
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Gang AI is scripted, never adaptive
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Buster Bros.
Weapon drops vary slightly per clear
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Territory wars and traffic add light randomness
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Buster Bros.
Optimal pop order per fixed stage layout is learnable
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Stats, gym, weapon skill, and routes reward systematic play
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.