To me it sounds almost like an action game with lots of straight forwardness. Honestly, God of War is very linear... Uncharted 2 was very linear... etc. Most big games that everyone loves are linear.
Every other genre out there is pretty much linear, except when an RPG does it, it's a bad thing. But to counteract it, sounds like they made the battles more fast pace and action oriented. I am all in favor of this. Maybe not for every RPG I play, but I certainly can enjoy a game like that every once in awhile. If the gameplay is as good as it seems and everyone says it is, I'm sure I will enjoy playing.
THE JACKEL