Building comparison
head to head
Call of Duty 3vsHalf-Life 2
Call of Duty 3 asks more than Half-Life 2, and the gap is reads.
Call of Duty 3
Execution · Pure Mechanics
WWII gunfight execution with light multiplayer prediction.
Half-Life 2
Execution · Pure Mechanics
Landmark FPS built on physics puzzles and tight gunplay.
Call of Duty 3 leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Half-Life 2 leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Call of Duty 3Half-Life 2
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Call of Duty 3
Aimbot trivialises both campaign and multiplayer gunfights
Half-Life 2
Gravity gun and shooting demand precision.
Reads3 vs 1
Call of Duty 3 leans clearly harder on reads.
Call of Duty 3
Multiplayer adds modest human positional prediction
Half-Life 2
Combine AI scripted, non-adaptive.
Variance2 vs 1
Call of Duty 3 leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Call of Duty 3
Scripted setpieces and spawn flow add minor unknowns
Half-Life 2
Almost no randomness.
Optimization3 vs 3
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Call of Duty 3
Map knowledge and weapon choice reward light study
Half-Life 2
Linear progression with no builds.
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.