head to head

Dragon Age: Inquisition cover artvsPopulous: The Beginning cover art

Dragon Age: InquisitionvsPopulous: The Beginning

Dragon Age: Inquisition leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Populous: The Beginning leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION3 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION7 /10
Dragon Age: InquisitionPopulous: The Beginning

Axis by axis

Execution3 vs 4

Populous: The Beginning leans harder on execution: Spell timing and unit micro demand real-time hands.

Reads1 vs 2

Populous: The Beginning leans harder on reads: Multiplayer shaman duels involve some opponent prediction.

Variance2 vs 2

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization7 vs 7

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

Dragon Age: Inquisition

full breakdown

Populous: The Beginning