Sadly enough, a lot western games have many incredible designs buried, they get replaced by average crap because somebody thinks that they are too outlandish to appease the crowds (or the inept art lead/producer)
I never saw the draw of ICO or this game. Meh. I like Eastern art very much, but this doesnt impress me that much. It isnt ugly, but I dont see anything fantastic about it.
Blizzard artwork is soooo overated. Their games look good, but if you look at the artbook released with Warcraft III there is a lot of crap in there IMO. Their cinematic department does a great job of interpreting a lot mediocre artwook. I say Oddworld inhabitants and lucasarts are better if you ask me when it comes to western work.