Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception has been praised for raising the bar of cinematic gameplay, but has been criticized in some quarters for being too linear. Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig says the linearity was key for the sort of game Naughty Dog is making.
“That’s not really our genre. We like those kind of games, as players and fans of other games, but for the action-adventure – especially the pulp-adventure genre – that doesn’t really make sense,” said Hennig. “It’s about having a very clear, linear story arc that doesn’t allow for a lot of the dilution that is created by player choice in some cases. We always call it ‘wide linear’ – within the path that we give, you have a lot of choice within it, it’s not just hit this button, and this button, and this button. But we need that authorial control over the story to do what we’re doing.”
Source: Gametrailers
