The only complaint I have so far is the use of "first person cam" to drive all the cutscenes. So far in the demo it has been used pretty poorly, and really doesn't feel right. The FOV is pretty wide for most of the scenes, and seems to go even wider in the hanging scene (ick). Also directing the player's attention in FPS stuff is also difficult, doesn't seem to be much improved here (what was the thing that tore up my 'chute? are you supposed to see something?). For HL2:E2 to knock first person cutscenes out of the park, the way they are handled here seems like going back to grade school. Having this great tech and these great tools, it's a shame there aren't awesome third person cutscenes.
The Half-Life series doesn't have any cutscenes per sé, at most the gman sequences at the beginning and end, but even then everything is first person. They tell the story via sequences in the game and that's what Valve is great at.
They make sure the player sees important sequences or when they tell the story using the characters and dialogue, they make sure the player can't escape. I haven't tested every scene myself, but if you think of the beginning of HL2, in the interrogation room when Barney reveals himself, or kleiner's lab.
That kind of stuff is more difficult in open environments (somewhere in a forest or on a hill). Not to mention camera angles, effects etc. which are a lot easier to implement, when the player's view is controlled.
There are a lot of other things that influenced the decision to take away control from the player during the cinematics, but he can still skip the scene by pressing SPACE. Considering that production on these cinematics began very late, I think they turned out great. There are plenty more, probably even better ones in the game.
Oh and the reason they are 1st person is to keep the player immersed in the game. He is Nomad, or "is looking through his eyes". At least that's the idea behind it, I can understand if some people like 3rd person cutscenes as in FarCry better. Matter of choice I guess.
