Video Game cutscenes...how did it come to this???

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

I think cutscenes are part of a larger trend of developers taking the reins away from the player. A lot of games these days are primarily concerned with presentation, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution is actually a pretty good example. After all I read about the "freedom" of choice in that game I was shocked by how linear and forced the whole thing was. I think Yahtzee went over this idea in his review of that game, but it's like the put so many resources into this one specific experience they want the player to get out of the game they can't afford to let the player miss anything (i.e., get a different experience). L.A. Noir was another really painful example of this trend. The presentation completely replaced gameplay as the primary "experience". I don't mind linearity. If gameplay is engaging then even a strictly linear game will be interesting and will provide a unique play experience. But if the gameplay is basically "go from point a to point b to activate the next cutscene", well, as the saying goes, fuck that.