7. The Tombs
In AC2 gamers were treated to a number of secret tombs and lairs to explore. Not only did they look gorgeous, but each was unique, hand-crafted, packed with gameplay and even delved deeper into the Assassin mythos. Each exhibited a variety of platforming, combat and stealth gameplay. These self-contained levels instantly became a highlight of the game for fans, and Ubisoft saw fit to include more of these kinds of areas in Brotherhood and Revelations. In Assassin's 3, after collecting all of the hidden trinkets (some better hidden than others) scattered around the map, Connor is finally able to fast travel to a couple of small islands to solve a mystery. Aside from one specific encounter involving a wrecked ship, these secret areas are short on variety, gameplay, and length and unfortunately - don't come close to matching the assassin tombs in AC2. As many pointless features as they crammed into AC3, ("interactive conversations" anyone?) and knowing full well how popular those tombs became with fans, it's a shame more time wasn't spent crafting more satisfying secret areas for AC3. To top it off, weaving the rich history of past heroes into Ezio's tale made you feel like you were part of a much larger universe - part of Assassin history itself. Pretty fantastic stuff for something that was completely optional.