I often see the complaint that modern shooters don't have enough color in them, but I honestly don't get it. They do have color in them. Just because it's not as pronounced as games like, say, TF2 or Splatoon (both with comical and unrealistic art styles, hence able to have more flashy palettes and make sense) doesn't mean they aren't colorful. Not to mention, Splatoon is a game whose base gameplay depends on colors, so you're comparing apples to oranges.
I'm just going off of what I witness from games that I play myself, or watch others play. Either way, I'm going to see probably a very extensive amount of the game.
It's not that I think every game ever needs to be drenched in rainbow wackiness. But too many of them are grey, brown, a bit of green, some more grey, added brown, a splash of grey, and then maybe a little green/brown. Occaisionally there may be a red laser or an orange explosion. Briefly.
The only real change is when you get something like a jungle or forest area, where suddenly there's still all of those tendancies, but with a huge blob of green then pasted over it. Except, even then, it often just seems.... muted.
Granted, that's a bit of a sarcastic view on it, but that's my impression of not just shooters, but a huuuuuuuuuge number of major modern games these days. They're just very.... drab. Dull. Almost lifeless, in alot of ways. Now something like Splatoon, yes, based on colors and everything, but I notice that every part of the game is pretty vibrant BEFORE the ink starts spraying. The world doesnt have to be covered in the stuff for it to have some color to it. In all honesty, I wasnt really counting the ink too much when I made the comparison earlier. Moreso, I was thinking about how all the different areas look BEFORE that.
And it's not like it HAS to be cartoony for it to work. Another example that comes to mind is actually Just Cause 2, which I've played to death. If anything, that game is MORE vibrant than either of these. And it's definitely NOT going in an "animated" style, or anything like that. Yet it makes it all work very well nonetheless.
I mean, really, the real world isnt even close to being as colorless and drab as what's portrayed in so many major games these days, and they sure dont HAVE to be that way, yet still are... which is part of why it bugs me so much. And after all this time... I just get tired of looking at them. They all just look the same to me, now...