User blog comment:JAlbor/E3 2013: Call of Duty Ghosts and More/@comment-1263839-20130606150728/@comment-1263839-20130606225730

I interpret linear in different ways, shooter wise anyway.

There's linear shooter storys, like your Halo, Call of Duty which you can move freely (within reason) in the mission but there's no alternate objectives and you must always go from Point A to Point B.

There's also linear level design, I'll give a comparison.

Halo 2 and Halo: Reach. Huge maps which provide organic exploration, and giving you the option on how you get around be it vehicle, ground, aircraft (depends on mission) or jumping about on rocks. In Reach in particular there's points where you can completely ignore parts of a mission if you speed ahead of it. CoD 4 and the WW2 CoDs sort of have this feel as well aside from vehicle sections (for the most part).

Then you get your Black Ops and your Modern Warfare 3, which force you go to down a strict path, force you into vehicles if they appear, do many pre-rendered scenes in gameplay, offer little in terms of exploration, AIs will force you to follow the path as well.

The linear level design was what I was referring to. I don't mind a linear story, mostly because I prefer it when a game has a single ending to make it all the more satisfying.