No, I HONESTLY believe that they did the best they could (within EA's guidelines/limitations). The PS3 just doesn't have the hardware beyond the CPU for this sort of game. A lot of smart phones would probably run this better.
It is sad, the CPU was a work of art, but the rest of the hardware was utter junk that they Overclocked, not a good move all in all.
PS: I LOVE my PS3. I loved my PS2. And PS1 is what sold me on gaming. I've also owned an Xbox and and XBox 360, both had a disappointing game collection, most had one or two games I played, and gathered dust otherwise. And I am just not comfortable with PC gaming, I have enough difficulties with a mouse as it is, but I tend to prefer the keyboard.
I'm not sure about that utter junk part - yes it had a IBM "Cell" processor similar to Apple’s G5, 7 years earlier than even Apple could put any comparable high tech consumer device on the market .
In retrospect, we know today that that leading technology came at a price - developing for Multi-core multi-threaded is only used in supercomputers but it is too complex for the average spaghetti code developers that are insourced for cheap per hour rates.
X-box have capitalized on the fact for that platforms, and have allowed standardized library code for simplified multithreading - like textures by using stronger processors running less efficient (warmer/ parameterized). Remember max config, slow, top heavy iis server, sql server, thick clients of microssoft early 2000? Well. Déjà vu.
The modern devices have the processing power to land the rover on the moon -
but the code/libraries on it is so inefficient that we can still only do limited picture editing and not even voice recognition, far from landing a module in realtime on a uneven surface. So human coding simplification is the real price. The LEM Lunar excursion module had 4Kb of RAM and a 74kb of Harddrive space with highly codified and efficient procedures for realtime.
Back to original problem, limited budget, late timeline, jack-of-all-trade devs for porting, is the reason for me3 state.
Sony departed fundamentally from ps3 architecture with P4 which supports me-too simplified libraries , standardized hardware for game development with cheaper developers - a hard pill to swallow - for the once pride market leader. Afterall that expertise gap has been extended by game engine developers like frostbite. Maybe this simply natural evolution afterall.