well, in my opinion also, here the power armor looked good:
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/5135/powerarmprev.jpgand here it started to look bad:
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/636/lowpwer02.jpgi kind of liked the original shiny black look, i would wish for more of that if ufo:ai graphics can handle stronger reflected light (specular highlight).
i mean, this darth vader (one of the worst that i could find) looks better imho:
http://terrymalloyspigeoncoop.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/vader.jpegso it doesn't matter if most of the dark is out of the dynamic range, the matte gray ones look uniformly gray anyway.
the little wear and tear textures look like little lighter dots, and are acting like camo to hide the meaningful shape instead of making it more readable.
also, there is no face visible, and i don't think that is good.
now all the soldier portraits look the same.
i think it would be better if nanocomposite was without the face cover, and in power armor it was semi-transparent if ufo:ai graphics can handle that.
as for the old models 'kneeling' position that someone said it looks like 'taking a dump', that someone might not have been aware of 'rice paddy prone'.
though the more stereotypical kneeling the better.
i wouldn't say the new models look extremely ugly on their own (though the faces, and hips of the unarmored version might need more work), but if i put them next to old models the old models look way more readable and polished.