Actually, the PowerVR SGX 535 in the 3GS can push 28 mil/polys a sec, while the PS2 can push 35 mil. The 1st and 2nd gen devices could only do 1 mil. I don't think the difference of 28 and 35 mil. matters since most PS2 games only use 10 mil. polys a sec. Sandly, almost no games can show this. Ace Combat in outside view is too much for non 3rd gen devices. I'd say Ace Combat and Adrenaline Golf have the best graphics on the App Store.
Actually IMO the best graphics are those that uses the IDEAWORKS engine namely COD and Backbreaker football and what's amazing is both games are under 20mb.
It's not just iPhone games that they've done an amazing job with either. Take a look at Metal Gear Solid Mobile. That was also done with IdeaWorks, and it looks fantastic. I wish more games would be made by them... the graphics are fantastic with every game of theirs. I swear, if they put the REAL MGS: Mobile on the iPhone/iPod Touch they'd make boatloads of sales.
Agreed, their version of mgs:mobile is awesome! It's a stealth game at it's finest it boogles me why konami decided to give us a duck hunt clone instead!
Sadly, the numbers quoted here have limited relevance in real-world situations You can realistically expect the 3GS to run regular iPhone games at twice the speed of older devices, and fancy shaders slower than that. Theoretical polygons/sec figures are just marketing speak for fooling silly device manufacturers. Real-world performance is determined by the system architecture as a whole. iPhone isn't designed to feed the graphics chip all it can handle at blazing framerates, its architecture is a compromise between performance, battery life and cost of manufacturing.
