head to head

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots cover artvsTomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness cover art

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the PatriotsvsTomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).

EXECUTION5 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the PatriotsTomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Axis by axis

Execution5 vs 5

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance2 vs 1

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots leans harder on variance: mid-battle chaos mostly cosmetic

Optimization6 vs 7

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness leans harder on optimization: Puzzle-solving, stat-gated paths, and route knowledge dominate

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

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

full breakdown

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness