head to head
Neither is harder. They score identically on all four axes, so the difference between them is in kind, not degree.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Light platform-brawler execution with creature-jacking as a small systems layer.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Loose action platforming with branching mission routes to optimise for endings.
Crash: Mind Over Mutant leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Shadow the Hedgehog leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Crash: Mind Over Mutant
Platforming and brawling timing are the main demand
Shadow the Hedgehog
Platforming and gunplay control, loose but central
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Crash: Mind Over Mutant
Mutants follow scripted attack patterns
Shadow the Hedgehog
Enemies are scripted regardless of faction choice
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Crash: Mind Over Mutant
World and encounters are fixed
Shadow the Hedgehog
Mission branches are player-chosen, not random
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Crash: Mind Over Mutant
Titan-jacking choices and upgrade routes are lightly solvable
Shadow the Hedgehog
Routing mission paths for endings and ranks is the meta
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.