head to head

El Matador cover artvsHalf-Life 2 cover art

El MatadorvsHalf-Life 2

El Matador leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Half-Life 2 leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).

EXECUTION6 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION3 /10
El MatadorHalf-Life 2

Axis by axis

Execution6 vs 6

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance2 vs 1

El Matador leans harder on variance: Encounters are fixed once levels are known

Optimization3 vs 3

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

El Matador

full breakdown

Half-Life 2