Some games definitely were able to get great performance that other games did not, but it depends on a lot of factors - post-processing, lighting accuracy, number of objects, number of lights, number of vertices, vertex deformations, shader instructions, physics, and game code. Ninja Gaiden Sigma was an original Xbox game before it went to PS3, so aside from the extra specular effects, more voluminous particle effects and increase in resolutions, it wasn’t very hard on the PS3. DmC was 30fps last gen, so 60 this gen is to be expected 
As mariomguy said, previous generations tended toward Phong shading that could “fake” a physical look with the right settings, but most modern engines use PBR now. It looks much more physically accurate without the need for the artist to fake anything, but that comes at a cost. But this in turn decreases development costs, so there’s greater advantage to using PBR in some areas.