Effective stories are bipolar by nature. The player won't be that invested in the exciting over the top moments if the game didn't have some form of premeditation. And I believe even the player will just screw around in a game like that with side missions and activities if given the option.
The latest example is in the uncharted demo. After the manic action of the gameplay segment, the tired Drake went to a motel with his friends to reflect on what just happened. They were calm and collected while they gave an exposition on where the story was heading.
Perhaps a better example is in MGS3, where before and after each boss fight or an action scene the player can hunt and screw around in a sandboxish area without the interruption of other enemies. Even the third act started with an extremly hyper action orionted scene before the climax was reached where the game ended on a depressing note.
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