I feel like Ritchie's best when doing original designs, seems like he can really pull it all together with full control and not hindered by the requirements of a license (i.e, Firepower, Black Knight, High Speed, etc.), with the noteable exception of STTNG.

Borg is best when partnered with Lyman.

On the other hand, Lawlor's licensed themes are his best games by far. His original themes are creative but they always end up too cheesy for my taste, with poor callouts and such.

To semi-quote the man himself, "if a dozen people on pinside say the art on a set of blurry low-rez pictures of SW sucks, then the art on the low rez blurry pictures of SW sucks!"

If Stern wants to make a positive first impression with their new games they should have made an effort and put their best foot forward with plenty of hi-rez pics and videos when it was announced. They are either incompetent at PR (nothing new about that), or they are hiding something they know isn't going to be well-received.

Having said that, I'd only judge a game once I've played it. Not my job to critique Stern's or JJP's artwork for them before the game ships, but if they show something they should expect feedback. You only get one chance to make a first impression, seems like a pretty simple concept.