I disagree, I liked SWARS visuals and I still do. The fully rotatable, destructible 3D cities and the (dynamic) vertex lighting were mind blowing, each vehicle and character could cast dynamic shadows. If you managed to destroy all light sources the map would be covered in total darkness.
You can destroy every building on the map, you can even burn grass and trees, the water ripples when it's hit by debris or bullets. You can enter and drive/ fly every parked vehicle, you can even ride trains on some maps.
Sadly the game's SVGA mode was very demanding at the time of release and few people could enjoy the game in all its glory, Magic Carpet (same engine) had the same problem.
SWARS also has a great soundtrack, excellent sound effects, 2 long and challenging campaigns (+ the unfinished but partly playable Unguided campaign), a very satisfying arsenal, great multiplayer, ....
I don't see anything wrong with the game's colour pallet, in fact I think it fits the game's theme perfectly. You can rotate the camera in any direction (you can change keys to make the camera controls more intuitive) and you can also temporarily hide buildings if you so desire. The standard camera height is often less than ideal because the height of the camera is tied to the active weapon, equip an Uzi and the camera will be very close to your agents, equip a sniper rifle and the camera will zoom out.
Another thing I dislike about SWARS is the somewhat random nature of the research component, more pedestrian types would have been nice too.
edit: The final build has more detailed destruction, much better AI, explosions look somewhat different and the shadows look even better.
Also that music