9. The Loading
Now this isn't something I loved, more like something that was done well that I now miss! Check it out, to load up a game of AC2 you'll have to wait a whole 10 seconds before you can resume control of Ezio. For Connor? 42 seconds. To fast-travel between cities Ezio's journey by ship costs the player another 15 seconds. To travel to a city in AC3, Connor takes...the same 42 seconds. I guess travelling by horse has its disadvantages... In AC3 I found myself looking at the netherworld of the Animus for so long I began to see how the host could go insane from spending too much time inside it. Long load times could be a symptom of larger, more complex systems at work, but it does contribute to the feeling that Ubisoft may be biting off a little more than they can chew with Creed 3. I guess the newly improved AnvilNext game engine was great at cutscenes and animation, but when it came to load times, not so much. Was AC2 that much smaller? It certainly didn't feel it. But you certainly feel the length of these load screens and for a 'AAA' title it sure made the game feel sluggish. Again this is relatively smaller thing in the broad spectrum of the game, but when the game frequently requires you to go back and forth between these areas , those 42 seconds begin to add up pretty quickly...