The character models were nice, but I didn't notice any of the pulses. Maybe it was just too late or something, but for some reason I was really let down. For example, you say you really liked the foliage and terrain, but I was let down there. One of the first thing I did after getting onto the beach was run up to some of the plants since that's where you can always find shortuts/sacrifices in graphics in games. And sure enough, most of the lower ground cover foliage had those low res leaves with indistinct/rough borders.... just like any other game. The tall plants and trees with the typical palm type leaves did indeed look nice, but most of the rest was standard fare.
The terrain also looked nice a whole, but indiviual items were pretty standard. For example, you could clearly see some of the "sides" on some of the rocks and tree trunks laying on the ground. Stuff wasn't as smooth/round as I expected. Again, maybe I just went in expecting too much. I'd just heard so much about how Crysis blows everything else away, but it really isn't that big of a difference. I was more impressed with overall presentation and atmoshpere of BioShock. Perhaps BioShock isn't as technically impressive, but the overall package isn't any less impressive, IMO.