head to head

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time cover artvsSuper Stardust Ultra cover art

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About TimevsSuper Stardust Ultra

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Super Stardust Ultra leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).

EXECUTION8 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION4 /10
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About TimeSuper Stardust Ultra

Axis by axis

Execution8 vs 9

Super Stardust Ultra leans harder on execution: Twin-stick dodging through dense asteroid fields is everything

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance1 vs 2

Super Stardust Ultra leans harder on variance: Spawn timing varies slightly but is quickly familiar

Optimization4 vs 4

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

full breakdown

Super Stardust Ultra