Why do many people hate on-rails gameplay?

I'm just curious about this. Games like Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles were really fun. Why is open world /sandbox more preferred among many gamers?

i enjoy both, mainly the dreamcast offerings, house of the dead 2 & vampire night. the arcade rocks for these c'mon ghost squad and time crisis...hell yeah!

but i think the equipment costs too damn much, you gotta get the game, then buy the damn light gun too- or sometimes the expensive package deal that saves you like only 10 bucks. i kinda feel the same way about these new music games like rockband and guitar hero. come one $100 dollars to play a video game and thats only for guitar hero forget rock band for all the damn instruments.i'm but a poor college student the games alone are too damn expensive.

i guess they know we'll still pay no matter the price..........