In Crysis the difference between low and high isn't noticeable until you begin enabling objects to move. For example on high you can run through entire buildings and every component becomes physics enabled (when they are just sitting there pre-collision they aren't physics enabled). On low you cannot run through the houses etc... I actually used the physics settings as part of my strategy in the game. Anyway, if you turn them to high and then run a vehicle through 2 of the houses the game will crawl. I don't even think there are as many physics enabled objects in 2 of the bungalos in Crysis as there is in Pain either and the physics quality doesn't seem to be as high either. In Pain the scene stays destroyed too as long as you want, you can also instantly reset it back to normal at any time. Anyway, barring all that the PS3 runs it all super fast and smooth which I cannot say for my PC. If I had a quad core maybe ...
Your impression of Pain is correct though, it's really just a very solid (and crazily detailed) implementation of a simple one trick pony concept. It's very indie in that respect and it is of course a $9.99 game ... so it's to be expected. It's just really fun with some multiplayer, objectives, but best of all a sandbox style mode that lets you just experiment with thousands of physics objects and combos.
The PS3 in general though has come a long way. I just got mine but from downloading the demos of games from last year and this year the improvement is tremendous. Resistance: Fall of Man looks like a glorified PS2 game but Rachet & Clank is very close to that Toy Story goal they have been aiming for. It's ridiculously detailed. Both titles are from the same developer and you can see they've improved 10 fold in a year. I think the best game overall is Drake's Fortune though. It appears to be nearly as detailed as Crysis in terms of foliage and shadows etc... The only thing is that it's not really as free form of a game. However, the enemy A.I. is pretty solid. I think Crysis is more impressive because you can go where you want when you want and Drake's Fortune is on rails more or less. Graphically, however it's a powerhouse. It doesn't run as many FPS as Rachet & Clank but I think it's actually more detailed just in a subtle way.
Anyway, graphically I think the PS3 is about on par with the 360 in terms of effects. The number of objects on screen appears to be greater and the really big difference is the number of physics enabled objects I'm seeing. Not all of the games seem to demonstrate the machine's ability and I'm sure it's a pain in the butt to program but when it's used correctly the results are impressive. I wouldn't call it my favorite machine but it's a solid console, certainly a lot better than it's reputation.
Your impression of Pain is correct though, it's really just a very solid (and crazily detailed) implementation of a simple one trick pony concept. It's very indie in that respect and it is of course a $9.99 game ... so it's to be expected. It's just really fun with some multiplayer, objectives, but best of all a sandbox style mode that lets you just experiment with thousands of physics objects and combos.
The PS3 in general though has come a long way. I just got mine but from downloading the demos of games from last year and this year the improvement is tremendous. Resistance: Fall of Man looks like a glorified PS2 game but Rachet & Clank is very close to that Toy Story goal they have been aiming for. It's ridiculously detailed. Both titles are from the same developer and you can see they've improved 10 fold in a year. I think the best game overall is Drake's Fortune though. It appears to be nearly as detailed as Crysis in terms of foliage and shadows etc... The only thing is that it's not really as free form of a game. However, the enemy A.I. is pretty solid. I think Crysis is more impressive because you can go where you want when you want and Drake's Fortune is on rails more or less. Graphically, however it's a powerhouse. It doesn't run as many FPS as Rachet & Clank but I think it's actually more detailed just in a subtle way.
Anyway, graphically I think the PS3 is about on par with the 360 in terms of effects. The number of objects on screen appears to be greater and the really big difference is the number of physics enabled objects I'm seeing. Not all of the games seem to demonstrate the machine's ability and I'm sure it's a pain in the butt to program but when it's used correctly the results are impressive. I wouldn't call it my favorite machine but it's a solid console, certainly a lot better than it's reputation.