Building comparison
head to head
Crazy Machines 3vsPortal 2
Crazy Machines 3 asks more than Portal 2, and the gap is variance.
Crazy Machines 3
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A physics-contraption puzzle about engineering Rube Goldberg machines.
Portal 2
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A first-person puzzle game where seeing the solution is the whole skill.
Crazy Machines 3 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Crazy Machines 3Portal 2
Axis by axis
Execution2 vs 3
Portal 2 leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Crazy Machines 3
Placing parts has no twitch component
Portal 2
Portal placement requires some precision but timing is lenient.
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Crazy Machines 3
Solo puzzle - no adaptive opponent
Portal 2
No opponent; puzzles are static.
Variance2 vs 0
Crazy Machines 3 leans clearly harder on variance.
Crazy Machines 3
Physics deterministic but chains feel lightly chaotic
Portal 2
Puzzles are deterministic with no randomness.
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Crazy Machines 3
Engineering a working contraption is the whole game
Portal 2
Solving the puzzle's logic IS the entire game.
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.