the only way to stop collapsing from joints twisting on a rig is to add other bones that soften the amount of twist applied to the vertexes. So for example on a shoulder joint you'd add bones between the elbow and the shoulder and constrain them to twist along their long axis incrementally as the shoulder twists. Of course…
Yes. For example the range of motion sounds like a game similar to uncharted 2. Here's the drake model from uncharted in the bind pose: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=171589