Iron Soldier 3 NUON vs PSX Comparison
by Jack Gagliardi

I was one of the lucky ones to get a copy of IS3 when it was first released.

My buddy Lord Zod, who has a PS2, came by my place and we did a back to back comparison of IS3 on PSX and Nuon.

I connected the two systems to my switcher box and literally switched back and forth between the systems while playing on the same levels with each of the systems. Here are the results:

• NUON FMV runs in full DVD playback mode (i.e., 30fps, no artifacting, perfectly clear)
• PSX FMV is grainy and runs at a lower framerate (looks like 24fps)

• NUON menus are in a higher resolution with 16bit-24 bit colour
• PSX menus look like they are in 256 colour and you can see scan lines on the images

• NUON sound effects are louder, clearer, and are bassier.
• PSX sound effects are good but are slightly muffled and definitely not as boomy

• NUON load times are longer than PSX

• NUON textures are higher res than PSX and are filtered.
• Even with PS2 filtering on, the NUON textures look leagues above PSX

• The game is run at the same overall resolution (320 X 240 it seems)

• NUON runs the game in 16bit-24bit colour. I suspect it is 24 bit but I could be wrong. Colours blend so beautifully that it looks 24 bit
• PSX colours are muddy and look to be 256 colour. For example the blue sky is dithered while the NUON sky has perfectly blended shades of blue.

• NUON transparencies have 256 levels displayed ... i.e, they are "smoother" looking transparencies and look VERY realistic
• PSX transparencies are nice but do not show the subtle changes between transparent levels.

• NUON light sourcing is smooth, noticeable and the varying brightness of light is easily detectable.
• PSX light sourcing is nice but again the brightness does not vary like the NUON version

• PSX Dual analogue control is nice to have and the dual shock is great!
• NUON controller works fine but I prefer using digital control when playing the NUON version. The analogue is not as responsive with the NUON controller in my opinion (BTW I use the Stealth Controller)

• Buildings blow up relatively the same but the NUON version has certain buildings blowing up with more "gusto" ... they come apart extra fast and really give the sensation of an explosion.
• The PSX version blows up similarly but does not have the same "bursting" explosive quality. (Lord Zod's wife noticed this difference)

• B/C of the increased use of colour the nightime levels on the NUON version look much more realistic than on the PSX. The buildings looks like their lights are on in the NUON version and it really is dark at night without loss of clarity.
• The PSX version looks like it is dusk instead of nightime and the whole environemnt looks washed out instead of being "without light"

• Framerates were nearly identical with both running at 24fps-30fps most of the time.

This goes to show that PSX games can be ported to NUON and really be improved on all accounts. Anyone who says NUON games look like PSX games are simply wrong.

Eclipse did a great job.