I think the great appeal of the game is the cinematic feel, that is why I didn't mind the linear nature of the game, although I would have enjoyed a few open areas to explore(like a small village with a couple of dialog options). It wouldn't have to be as in depth as say Mass Effect, but if there was a few scenes where you needed to finesse info out of people by talking it would have been nice. I thought it was cool to that alot of the time the characters would just keep talking to each other while you walked around and played, it kept it feeling like a movie. Although another problem is the length, I'm 5 hours in and 70% done. That doesn't bode well for the length of the game. I think a few spots with a free roaming adventure/puzzle areas would have helped. But I'm not going to knock it, I enjoy it and without doubt will be buying the sequel. I can't say that about alot of games.

I agree, but sadly many games do it.

http://hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2005-10-07

 Although while this is true you can pretty much say the same about pretty much every game. I'd actually love to do a thread on all the funny logic in games. 

Why is anyone acting like thats a bad thing LOL I'm glad they took a break every once in a while, they kick my ass all over the place regularly on hard/crushing xD I'm glad I get to cheap shot a few of them into some dynamic action poses :3

The vehicles sections were no good, and the enemy placement made very little sense: I go through all this climbing, find a hidden area, and it's already crawling with enemies?

It's a decent game, but it's not really all that exciting.

I rolled my eyes at a few parts like that...

"Sweet, we solved the puzzle and found the secret tunnel to the relic!

*hears voices and sees a bevy of guards already in tunnel*

...

Or we could have just used the big ass door over there like those guys." 

 They have supplys like Rope, and dynomite :P Plus there badguys, so that arbitrarily makes them assholes, therefore they obviously don't care about protecting the ruins :D

Why is linear considered as a negative. If I was getting chased, I would be going One Way and that would be the Hell out of there. Linear is good and useful if the environment is done right i.e. feels like there is more in the background. Sometimes, open environments are just as bad - too long and you get lost lol.

Anyways, how many people take a different way to school,work or other places of interest every time they go there. You may once in awhile - other than that you just want to get to where you are going. I like linear games at times :P

I almost always like linear games :P Linear games do a great job of story telling, which I personally find very appealing. If it's a sandbox game, and linear, we have problems. But I can't get into games like oblivion and such because I just find them too open ended, not very epic, and story seems strewn about just waiting for you to find it. Not my cup of tea :/ I like epic, grab you by the seat of your pants, drag you along thrill ride. And I've never played a non-linear game that does that.

 What I'm more or less thinking of is games like Rachet and Clank, they have a few open arenas and you'll have to do a few objectives and you can do them in any order, or if you want to revisit a planet you can to get something you missed. Yet in most parts you have to go in one direction, but the way they designed it you don't feel that restraint. I'm mostly fine with the linear nature of the game, but I think it hurts the gameplay's sense of freedom, for example compare the wall climbing parts to Assassin's creed, Assassin's creed allows you to scale any wall and that feels like an ability you have, while in Uncharted you can only climb the very specific walls the developers have designated you to climb. Sometimes you'll be jump toward a very climable wall but he won't do it, and it kind of denies you that sense of freedom, you can only do that when your supposed to!  then your asking yourself, where do they want me to go? and when your questioning where your supposed to go, your kind of pulled from the immersivness of the experience.

I'm not saying a game shouldn't be linear, I just think linear games should give you the illusion of freedom, like Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, Half-Life, Portal, you can pretty much only go one way, but you constantly feel motivated to go that way you don't seem to question that, that goes almost into a subconsicous construct to level design.