Interesting closing paragraph. I am one of those gamers that loves a sandbox and generally dislike linearity in my games unless they are both extremely fun to play, and extremely interesting as they develope so that they feel like they grow, and keep to captivated. I love movies, but I'm quite picky, I like things that capture my imagination and feel like a wurlpool of epicness. Give me Fight Club, American Beauty or Donnie Darko over Quantum of Solace or Transporter anyday. Thats the problem, many FPS's are linear to the point where all you really have any control over is what weapons you use, and how well you play the game, their story lines are shit, the game never really seems to be going anywhere interesting, and it just feels like a tutorial on game machanics rather than an actual lovingly crafted, livable movie thats had sweat blood and a fair dosage of peoples souls put into it. Sandboxes like open ended RPG's are fun because you largly control where your game goes next, if you get bored of one bit you go do something else and come back to it later if you want another crack. But that's not to say games should all be sandboxes, when a linear game is great it's really great, alot of (I've said this before in previous comments) adventure games have great storylines and thats why their fun to play, most of them are completely linear, but who cares, it entertains you. This series sounds like the kinda thing that can pull even the most cynical sand adict into the linear world... hey it's got me interested.

@Above: What?