The biggest issue they have with the graphics is that they changed the original settings
they had during game development and implemented the extreme contrasty look that
exists now. It gives an immediate striking look but adds nothing in reality.
There should be no part of any picture which is black. Even at midday.
Ask any artist or any photographer. It is taboo. It looks unnatural and tells you straight away
that the person who is responsible for the look of the game doesn't know what they are doing.
Game, with almost black shadows
Reality
However you will find very many photos of aircraft with black shadows if you look.
They are not good photographs though.
The contrast is way too high.
It looks like overuse of the 'levels' slider or misuse of 'curves' in Photoshop, in this way:
It looked quite good once, but they ruined it about the time it was released.
Look how much black there is on the histogram. There can be a little,
but here most of the pixels are around the black area at the left side of the histogram.
Detail is lost because it has been lowered to the point of disappearing into blackness.
There is actually no excuse for such poor graphics. Anyone with simple knowledge of photography or image editing should see it immediately.