I just finished playing Peter Jackson's King Kong video game from 2005 and the game was a lot of fun, a real epic adventure, but what ruins the whole experience (except all the bugs that never got patched) are some ridiculously short levels and insane loading times.

Short levels and long loading screens are nothing uncommon for old games, but usually on new computers these old games load in seconds, sometimes you can't even read the tips that used to be on loading screens. My processor is at least 3 times and SSD at least 5 times faster than anything that was available in 2005 and yet levels can take like 20 seconds to load and some of the levels are so small they can be finished in less time than it takes to load.

For example there was a level that was just a short walk through a cave for less than a minute or one where you just jump of the cliff and go on river for 50 meters and nothing really happens. Usually in games these types of areas are like "buffer" zones that are used to split larger areas and to let the game load the new area in the background, but here it is just long loading screen after another...

So, what are some games that you played where it was cut in really small levels and/or loading times were ridiculous and was really distracting for the experience ? Try avoiding any spoilers.

I remember that the loading times that appeared after every fight in Street Fighter 2 Collection for PSX were terrible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFChEQnPRSU

So Blonde... To this day, I don't know if that game is good or not. All I remember is the loading times every time you'd move a screen, even though I completed it.

I haven't played it, but Sonic '06 is rather infamous for its loading times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3FBWfqh07E

(Note that the music on the load screens is bot in the actual game; it was edited into the video, and is from a different game that is actually worth playing and has no load times.)

Serpent in the Staglands doesn't have levels really, only small-ish locations. Still, just looking at the game the last thing you'd expect to be a problem is load times. Yet, every load screen was annoyingly long - upwards of 30 seconds long.
It was a widely known issue though back then, and also one recognized by the developers, so hopefully it's been fixed by now. The game's pretty interesting.

Deus Ex Invisible War had very short level with a pretty lengthy load between. Some areas could be sprinted through in a minute with a 30 second load leading up to it.

Ever played Beneath a Steel Sky on Amiga from Diskettes? Zen or quit.

It didn't have short levels, but the original Thief was notorious for it's loading times. Even given how large the levels were, it was still ridiculous. You could actually go make a sandwich, come back, and it would still be loading.

Fallout 4, especially as your character reached level 100, could be a nightmare. Especially in the downtown area, where you're going in and out of buildings every few seconds.

The original Witcher (the first game) release had tragically long loading times when going from outdoor areas to indoors (and back again). And sometimes quests would send you through transitions one after another. Patches and the subsequent Enhanced Edition really did a lot to fix that but the original release... ouch.

Did you ever try playing it on a modern computer with an SSD, maybe now it loads fast ? That is my problem with King Kong, it is a 2005 game that still loads super slow with modern fast computer.

Oh now it works great and has for a while.

When it first came out though I had a halfway decent computer and the loads were a joke. I thought it was me but when I asked around, a lot of people noticed, including a few reviewers.

Thief: Deadly Shadows. It was a total disaster to have 3 sections for one level and a few for city hub level. Loading times become a nuisance after the first mission. They killed the game because of growing console market. Since then I never liked anything associated with XBOX (console, ugly xinput gamepad, Live ID/gamertag, TV ;) Only with 16 Mb RAM, should you have more the loading times would be no issue. At least that's how I remembered it. Yes, it was awful. Thanks to Microsoft and abysmal XBOX console. I hate how Ion Storm f@cked up Thief 3 and Deus Ex 2 because of console constraints.

I can remember playing heaps of games with: Please insert Disc 2 and ten minutes later Please insert Disc 1 and twenty minutes later Please insert Disc 3 and on and on it went and each time you had to sit there and wait for the required disc to be read.

Does this count? :P