The majority of the B/W cookie cutters were not licenced themes, therefore the art was mostly artwork that was hand drawn or unique so to speak...u have to consider companies who control ac/dc. tron. x men, avengers etc control the licencing, and cartoon style B/W cookie cutter art will not be allowed or even considered by them (excl X Men ofcourse)...
So its easy to blame Stern for artwork on a playfield that looks like picture stills from the movie, but thats exactly what the licence holders want and would probably only allow....wait for Stern to do a non licenced theme, if they do, and lets judge it then, apples compared to apples....but licenced themes have to work with licence holders....and licence holders usually stick to a very conservative road....
spend a few hours looking at alot of the 90's dmd games from all manufacturers...look at all non licenced versus licenced..its pretty much the same result accross the board....
yes, unlicenced themes do produce better playfield art...but thats to be expected with more creative licence (no pun intended.lol)
Perhaps, judge the new games on gameplay and ignore the licenced p/f artwork if u can, I would be interested on your gameplay feedback....or anyones for that matter.
