How much is animation necessary? I have done it before, but I have also spent a lot time in the past developing animation that added little to the gameplay. This time I am being ruthless and challenging the value of each piece of work, not falling for doing what seems the obvious next step.
IMHO it can add a lot to the experience, but there’s a fairly wide range of animation quality inbetween stylised (Speccy Football Manager) and realistic (FIFA 10) in which it just looks pants and detracts. So you kind of need to stick to one end of the spectrum or the other.