I think they look better because of certain "darkness" they seem to have.

But I'm loving the arenas as they are in-game, but you are right, they should feel more like the ones in the pics.

Darker.

Just compare the Metropolis stage to understand what Im trying to say.

That's cause the pictures are drawn.

When they come up with render, its just an impression of how they want the arena to be. But when it comes down to creating the arena, then they realise its just not possible to put in every detail. Damn, Raiden's mountain temple looks awesome!

1. Animation.

2. Programming

3. Interactivity

There is a balance, and a "budget" (so to speak) for how to spend these qualities concerning graphics in-game.

All these things cost pixels, which can and will (until technology figures out a way around it) cost us detail in graphics.

Get a camera, and take a picture of someone standing still under good lighting, vs a picture of someone, or something moving at a high speed under the same lighting. Pixels//Definition of your speed picture will deteriorate.

Some digital cameras are working to solve some of this, but we're not quite there yet.