Awesome review meta. I agree with all your points, I thought the series was going to regress since becoming annualized, but AC 4 is a hugeimprovement on an already solid series.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - the best Creed yet
Game Review | December 2, 2013 7:50 pm
By Meta
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: action
Subgenre(s): open world/sandbox
Players: 1 story/campaign, 2-8 online
Rated: M for Mature (Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence)
***Note: this review is for the 360 version of the game, and only covers the single player content.***
Arr, this be thee best Assassin's Creed game yet. Why, ye ask? Avast your booty down and let me spin ye a yarn of conspiracy, larceny, vomit and various other hoodrat viscerae.
Black Flag has Edward Kenway as the protagonist, the grandfather of Connor from 3. Unlike previous Assassins that were born in to the Order or trained by a Master, Kenway falls in to the gig by accident and casual pirate violence.
Sailing and naval combat are prominent (who would have thought??) and they both work well. Getting around is just a matter of adjusting the amount of sails out--the more out the faster you go but the worse your ship maneuvers. The combat is improved over 3 as you now have access to the main 3 weapons by looking in certain directions, and also have a long-range mortar and can ram enemies.
Your ship, the Jackdaw, can be upgraded in a lot of ways, but you need more than just gold. The materials must be plundered from other ships or earned through successful trades in the mini-game Kenway's Fleet, which is also playable on a separate device like a smart phone if you sync it.
As a big part of the gameplay, fighting and boarding enemy ships is a lot of fun. You can blow them to hell and pick up some of their floating cargo, but you get the best returns by disabling them then pulling in close and hopping over. The combat can get a little wonky when you are fighting multiple enemies and have to maneuver around your own crewman, but you can also use your assassin skills to clamber around the rigging and cargo nets to shoot enemies from afar or do air assassinations with your hidden blades.
Sometimes ships will have extra goals like destroying their powder reserves or climbing to the crow's nest and destroying their flag, and these help to break up the repetition of just boarding and slaughtering x number of enemies.
Other optional activities include hunting specific animals, as their pelts let you craft upgraded armor and pouches, and you can go harpooning from your ship and bag monsters like bull sharks and the infamous white whales. You are also tasked with finding hidden Assassin relics by way of light puzzles in Mayan ruins, and picking up missing Animus pieces. Once you acquire a diving bell, you can sail to shipwrecks and search underwater for treasure and items.
Along the way, you will also find treasure maps that lead to extra money and sometimes new items. You will sometimes sail by tiny islands or unmarked sandbars, and when your crew calls out that they have treasure, you can anchor the boat and jump overboard to swim out.
There are only 3 cities in the world, but each one has its own personality and while the first 2 are somewhat sparse and just have a few wooden buildings, the last city is huge and has the large, intricate architecture that Assassin's Creed games are known for. Besides shopping for character and ship upgrades, you can also get in tavern brawls, recruit crewmen, and play period-appropriate board games. You also get access to a pirate hideout base later on, and you can use your excess gold to add shops and upgrade the manor there.
Most of the story missions take place in these cities, and while the story and characters are excellent, many of the missions require tailing and eavesdropping which are boring at best and often tedious. The game presents many spots for hiding and checkpoints are frequent, but the stealth mechanics are still touchy and inconsistent as in previous games so these types of missions bring the flow of the adventure to a grinding halt, and you will likely grit your teeth hoping to just get through them so you can get back to the pirating.
The last element which is a focus of Creed games is the modern day gameplay. Black Flag has a fresh approach to these--Desmond's story is over, so you now play in first person mode as a new employee of Abstergo Entertainment, a multimedia company that serves as a front for the Templar to conduct their Animus research and pursue their goals. You mainly just wander around and hack computers, but the story snippets and QR code notes you find serve to further the overall story, including more information about the First Civilization, Juno, and the Templar's future plans.
TL;DR:
+ TONS of stuff to do
+ Naval combat & sailing are interesting and fun
+ Best video game water EVAR
+ Modern day gameplay is fresh & different from previous Creeds
+ Main story pacing is superb outside of "tail" missions
+ Game world opens up early
+ Shooting a tower guard with a berserk dart and watching him shoot people for you is hilarious
- Combat can get wonky if there are too many people nearby
- Despite frequent checkpoints, the "tail" missions still suck
? Why isn't there more Blackbeard, Cap'n Kidd and Anne Bonney
Overall, I give AC4 Black flag a 9 out of 10. Edward is my favourite protagonist, and his devil-may-care attitude and beastly combat abilities keep the gameplay fun and the story moving forward in interesting ways. It loses a point for some infrequent glitches in the freerunning and multi-opponent combat and because of the crappy tail and eavesdropping missions.
Extras: by using the Uplay feature, you can unlock a theme for your dashboard that features some nice pirate-y paintings.
Achievements: you will grab about 1/3 of the gamerscore by just playing through the game. The other achievements will come from completing all of each task category, performing a few special tasks, and then getting ranks in the multiplayer mode.
Rating: 9.0 of 10
Reviewed: Assassin's Creed IV
Keywords: None
