I'd prefer straight out high poly meshes (in the hundreds of thousands of polygons per limb) to bump mapping. The day I can do that and not have to worry about it slowing down at any point in time is the day I'll leap up in joy with my pants down.
That said, I thought that this was called parallax mapping, but maybe that was another technique.
That said, I thought that this was called parallax mapping, but maybe that was another technique.