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.
