question for game modelers
 

i read through mt. mckinley's guide to texturing low-poly models for games, and i'm trying to create some low-poly characters for a project i'm working on. it's not a game, just a movie, but done in the style of a PSX game like metal gear solid/dino crisis, etc. i'm trying to make the characters look low-poly on purpose, and give them that ten-year-old feel.

i've been going through all my old games to try and see how the models are put togther, but as it's hard to tell just by looking i'd like to ask game modelers like mt. mckinley and others how those game models were done. for example:

1) is a character usually one or multi polygons? - some games i can clearly see where the arm is seperate from the body, or joints overlap, etc, but sometimes i see the joints pull, which must be one poly.
2) if they have glasses/big hair/etc. would it be a seperate polygon?
3) what kind of shading is used? - sometimes i can tell the model is extremely simple, like a rectangle leg, but due to shading/texturing i can't see the corners, so it looks like a sculpted leg.
4) what's the normal poly count for a head? i know bodies are usually low, but the head needs more to get it round, and so from a profile you see the features, etc.

I know these are pretty vague questions, and each game is made a lot differently, but i could use some pointers. also as it's not really a game i'm making, i don't have to adhere to any rules, it's just the style i'm going for.

thanks in advance.

ps - one last one - if you remember in a lot of PSX games like tomb raider, the closer you get to a wall the more you realize straight lines aren't straight, but crooked-looking. why is that? have you ever seen how that's done?