head to head

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor cover artvsSaw II: Flesh & Blood cover art

Middle-earth: Shadow of MordorvsSaw II: Flesh & Blood

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Saw II: Flesh & Blood leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).

EXECUTION5 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE4 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10
Middle-earth: Shadow of MordorSaw II: Flesh & Blood

Axis by axis

Execution5 vs 4

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor leans harder on execution: Counter-timing combat and stealth execution

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance4 vs 3

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor leans harder on variance: Procedural captains with hidden strengths and weaknesses

Optimization6 vs 6

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

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

full breakdown

Saw II: Flesh & Blood