head to head
vs
Mark of the NinjavsPrince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Mark of the Ninja leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Mark of the NinjaPrince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 5
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads1 vs 0
Mark of the Ninja leans harder on reads: Guards investigate noise on scripted logic; no player profiling
Variance2 vs 1
Mark of the Ninja leans harder on variance: Guard placements are fixed per level; no RNG disrupts routing
Optimization8 vs 6
Mark of the Ninja leans harder on optimization: Distraction sequencing, upgrade paths, and ghost-score routing are solvable
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.