Hypothesis #1: The Impact of Style

(Right, before I start this post, I'm just going to quickly run through how I intend to work through these 'investigations'; I'll begin with a Hypothesis e.g. X leads to Y, then look at some case studies e.g. examples of games that support the assumption, examples that don't etc. From there, I'll do a practical experiment to test the assumption and then finish with a conclusion that discusses whether or not the theory was correct. May refine this process later, but it'll do for now. Now let's crack on!)

Assumption:

An interesting Aesthetic design leads to fundamentally better Character Design

Image Source: http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2008/08/cartoonycomparison.jpg

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of photo-realistic games. I mean, sure, they do look great sometimes, but they often run the risk of diving headfirst into the uncanny valley and they have a bad habit of ageing terribly after only a short period of time. Conversely, more stylistic games are usually much easier on the eye and will often remain visually impressive many years after their release.

 This has led me to believe that a game's aesthetic style may have a much greater impact on character design than previously thought. But is this the case?

 ...Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there? It's research time!