head to head

Fallout: New Vegas cover artvsPopulous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods cover art

Fallout: New VegasvsPopulous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods

Fallout: New Vegas leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION4 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
Fallout: New VegasPopulous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods

Axis by axis

Execution4 vs 4

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads1 vs 2

Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods leans harder on reads: Rival gods are scripted AI; human matches add light prediction

Variance2 vs 2

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization8 vs 7

Fallout: New Vegas leans harder on optimization: Faction routing, perks, builds heavily rewarded

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

Fallout: New Vegas

full breakdown

Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods