his is a good example of why Yahtzee needs to stop trying to make serious points. He doesn?t want people just saying that they think War looks cool, but when it comes down to analyzing his character design, the best he can do is to list a bunch of things, and then say that those things don?t look cool.
For an actual analysis-
First off, War isn?t human. He?s War. The hood hides his face and makes his glowing eyes stand out. The overly elaborate designs on some of his armor and sword are part of that as well- they don?t look like something you?d see on a human because War is not human. The long white air also gives a sense of age, helping to cast War as something ancient. Oh, and his huge left gauntlet is a weapon. That?s pretty obvious to anybody who isn?t being willfully stupid.
The character?s torn cloak makes him look like he just came from a battle. Again, appropriate for War.
The character?s color scheme uses a classic three color design: two main colors (red and grey) with goldish highlights. The grey fits because of the armor. Red has had a long association with war and bloodshed. The gold contrasts the two, but is a neutral enough color not to clash.
The character?s broad design also fits the general concept of War. He?s not a precision instrument; he?s a large, powerful bruiser. Not only that, but he contrasts with the other characters in the game. When you have a bunch of angles and demons fighting, War can walk in and look distinctive. If he looked like every other character in the game, it would be a less impressive effect.
All in all, Yahtzee fails to raise any valid points about his design. In fact, I don?t think Yahtzee really understand aesthetic design at all. He doesn?t argue from any established or explained principles, he just tries to justify his argument with snark. The best example of this: One of the most accepted principles of character design is that the character should be distinctive by silhouette alone. So what does Yahtzee do? Complain about everything that makes his silhouette distinctive, of course.
Of course, it wouldn?t be a Yahtzee article without massive doses of hypocrisy, so I?ll just go easy and point out that the Heavy in TF2 has just as distorted bodily proportions as War does. In fact, he?s worse.