Is Linearity A Bad Thing?

All too often, games are referred to as being "linear" in a negative way. But is linearity in a game a bad thing? Cassidee from Leviathyn.com shares her thoughts.

[stephmhishot]

True linearity is needed to effectively tell a compelling story. Having an open world in a game like an Uncharted would make no sense, since you are in races against "the bad guys" to get point X most of the time. It would be pointless if say in UC2, that a map would open up the world at one point and Drake had to beat Lazaravic to some area but instead you were able to choose to go on a sidequest treasure hunt on the otherside of the country or fly to another part of the world.

[cpayne93]

It's just better when games offer choice, and Uncharted does offer choice a decent amount of times. Sometimes you could try to stealth kill a group of enemies, and often there would be a few different ways to go about that, or you could just shoot everyone up. What I don't like in shooters is when your driven along a narrow path and the whole game feels like you're doing nothing but walking then pointing and clicking.

[ginsunuva]

They should make it wide and linear. Still in a line, but a very wide line.

[Raoh]

Not a bad thing at all. Most people don't know what they are talking about. Most of the games people love are linear but slam a handful of games for being linear.

[CrimsonDream]

NO!It allows for a story drive forward without distraction. Not saying open world games consist of distractions, but they do provide options from where you can take a break from the story, which isn't bad at all. At the end of the day, open world vs. linear are just gaming options that appeal to different groups that appreciate it most.