I'm glad to see someone call out reviewers for this sort of thing, finally. Shoehorning non-linear gameplay where it doesn't belong has always been a major pet peeve of mine, since it eliminates the developer's ability to create the tight, scripted encounters, puzzles, and other such sequences that are so essential to the action, FPS, and platformer genres.
I think the phenomenon is a bit overrated, though. I mean, the number of people who love linear games like Super Mario Galaxy and Call of Duty 4 (to name two recent, and excellent, examples) is much greater than the (small but vocal) number of Internet whiners who want everything to be a GTA or Fallout-style sandbox.
"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."
-Sean Malstrom
