Cel-shaded Animation

Cel-shaded animation is a form of graphics that has started being used in video games which makes it look more like a hand drawn story.

An example of older cel-shading (The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker).

An example of newer cel-shading (Borderlands).

I like this style (not necessarily more than the normal graphics that are used) because it's interesting to play. It kind of makes you feel like you're in a storybook playing out the story. Some people may complain it makes it harder to get into the game because it looks less real, but I don't think looking real makes something much better. If you're looking at a huge monster that you can't even come up with in your imagination, it can't look real anyway since there isn't a real one in our world. I was curious about how this art style was produced, so I looked it up and found out it actually starts with a 3d model. Except then they take that model and use non-photorealistic lighting while rendering. This makes shadows and highlights look more like blocks of color instead of smoothly mixed, giving it a flat appearance.