The way I see it, when the government criminally prosecutes someone, it is absolutely the most acute pitting of the government against the individual, and the power imbalance is enormous.
I think that's the way it should be seen and why we have a presumption of innocence and various other procedural safeguards available (at least to those with the savvy, lawyers, and finances to assert them).
When an incoming administration has sworn to prosecute people ahead of any criminal investigation and without serious regard to their actual guilt, but because of their political opposition, or even more petty reasons (making Trump look bad), I can't really argue with a pardon to preempt that.
Among Biden's pardons, Hunter's is certainly worse, as he was investigated, tried, and found guilty. When the facts are as bad as they were against Hunter, the notion of a prosecution being "political" kind of loses any significance.
The same is also true of Trump's criminal charges.
I am a big fan of pardons, more specifically commutations of sentences. The justice machine reaches some really draconian results in too many cases. But, that has little bearing on this.