Lol, you must be very delusional or only played WoW as far as I'm concerned.
It is true that games don't need to be a 10 in the graphics department in order to be considered 'good' or even great games. It's just simply not true. I still remember the first crappy PC games I've ever played. Or maybe the text-based RPGs? Ughhh.
Now, cartoony vs realism is another subject, and it comes down to personal preference. To say one works better than the other is just another way of saying "I like this more than the other" without being too biased about it.