Graphical Style in Gaming

When we first think of aesthetics in video games the first think we usually think of is the graphical style of the game. This visual component is normally the first thing we notice about a game before we get a chance to play it and test out the various game play features. The graphical style often sets up the mood or sets certain expectations about the game before we experience the actual game play. You can have the same basic game but how you represent those characters and worlds in the graphical style can completely change the experience you have with it. For example lets compare the last two Legend of Zelda games: The Wind Waker and the Twilight Princess.

The Wind Waker used what Nielsen calls a Caricaturism style. This is a style where the designers "attempt to present the essence of a person or object by exaggerating its most prominent features" You can see this in the cartoonish style that the character Link is presented in with his overly huge eyes that show lots of expression as he interacts with his world. Now in the Twilight Princess the designers use a slightly more photorealistic graphical style to present Link and the world around him. His look and his world are based on more realistic features that do not look that dissimilar from our own world by using illusionism. For all intensive purposes the two games are almost identical in game play but the graphical style used to separate them changes the players experience completely. The bright color scheme and caricature look of Link in the Wind Waker gives the world and story a more up beat and childlike wonder while the photorealism used in Twilight Princess creates a more dark and gritty world for the player and makes it seem like a much more adult game.

Nielsen talks about how certain genres employ only certain graphical styles( eg first person shooters only using photorealism and platformers only using caricaturism) why is this? Could fps' not survive as cartoon looking games? Would a photorealistic Super Mario be just too creepy and thus no fun?