Building comparison
head to head
Portal 2vsThe Incredible Machine 3
Portal 2 asks more than The Incredible Machine 3, and the gap is execution.
Portal 2
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A first-person puzzle game where seeing the solution is the whole skill.
The Incredible Machine 3
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A physics puzzle of engineering Rube Goldberg contraptions to solve fixed goals.
Portal 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Incredible Machine 3 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Portal 2The Incredible Machine 3
Axis by axis
Execution3 vs 1
Portal 2 leans clearly harder on execution.
Portal 2
Portal placement requires some precision but timing is lenient.
The Incredible Machine 3
Placing parts is untimed, no dexterity needed
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Portal 2
No opponent; puzzles are static.
The Incredible Machine 3
Solo puzzle, nothing to predict
Variance0 vs 1
The Incredible Machine 3 leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Portal 2
Puzzles are deterministic with no randomness.
The Incredible Machine 3
Physics is deterministic, no randomness
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Portal 2
Solving the puzzle's logic IS the entire game.
The Incredible Machine 3
Engineering a working contraption from parts IS the game
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.