head to head

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time cover artvsThey Bleed Pixels cover art

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About TimevsThey Bleed Pixels

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); They Bleed Pixels leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).

EXECUTION8 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION4 /10
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About TimeThey Bleed Pixels

Axis by axis

Execution8 vs 9

They Bleed Pixels leans harder on execution: Frame-tight platforming and combo inputs decide everything

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance1 vs 0

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time leans harder on variance: Deterministic levels

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

They Bleed Pixels