head to head
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is reads, and it is a single point.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Planning a kill order and landing extreme-range ballistic shots against scripted patrols.

Optimization · Practiced Mastery
Choosing between three distinct playstyle routes through consistent guard layouts for optimal SMI scores.
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Splinter Cell: Blacklist leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2
Aimbot trivialises the long-range ballistic shots that define it
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Mark-and-execute and fast takedowns raise the physical ceiling
Splinter Cell: Blacklist leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2
Enemy patrols follow fixed scripts, never adapting to your tactics
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Enemies react on scripted alert logic, not player-specific profiling
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2
Wind and patrol layouts are unknown until scouted, then fixed
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Patrol density and item placement are consistent across runs
Splinter Cell: Blacklist leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2
Planning routes, shot order and contract objectives is half the game
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
SMI scoring system incentivises optimal ghost, panther, or assault routing
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.