actually, i think it would probably look better graphically...think about this...there are alot of things you can use the same texture for somply because you don't have to vary the color...and chances are you could work to mix textures more effectively.
Also i was having my finger printed for my job recently...i noticed something really cool...when they finger print you they start off with one side of your finger and roll it out....it looked just like a gameskin...and i thought...hmm what if we took sections of a persons face...inked it and put it on paper...we could then stick these prints and use them for bump mapping.
Besides a Noir Game...it be cool to do a horor game too
also what i would do is i would create a sort of hyper imposed shadowing....think of how you see things regular shaded...it goes in a gray scale spectrum...think about cell shading it takes that spectrum...takes about 20 percent of that spectrum and makes it one color and the other 80 percent and makes it another.....imagine if you did regular shading...but then at the last 20 percent turned it into a sudden black in a black and white game. or perhaps 5% white 75 percent shaded 20 percent black....
http://theperm.tetrametrics.com/Misc/ModPic.jpgi did that picture ages ago in paint brush...each face is two colors only....i think however they look really damn good.