Hi AlfredJ, welcome!
I must say I am also not 100 % impressed by AVS, although the game looks and feels great. I haven't yet finished it though, and I must say that the game really opens up in the second chapter. It's just a bit hit-and-miss I guess, but more hit than miss, especially when Mona says
spoiler:"Let's crush Froderick's fruits and nuts."
That had me in stitches, heh. Overall I'm optimistic about the future of the series. There is room for improvement, and I am hopeful that we'll get that improvement in AVS 2.