Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag: (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher: Ubisoft

Release Date: October 29th, 2013 (NA, EU) PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (On Launch)

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has had many instalments some better than others, but Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is Ubisoft’s most ambitious game yet. This game is a prequel, set in the early 1700’s, to last year’s Assassin’s Creed III which was set in the late 1700’s. Black Flag also does not feature the Desmond Miles, who has been the protagonist in the last four games, as well as this the game is based on pirates and take AC3’s navel combat and builds on it. All of these things help to the Assassin’s Creed series to a new level but it does not succeed in every way. Black Flag gives you a massive, vast open world to explore, but it does not capture that traditional Assassin’s Creed experience. However this does not make it a bad game by any means.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag follows the story of Edward Kenway, the grandfather of Haytham Kenway who was the main antagonist from Assassin’s Creed III. However, the player assumes the role of an analyst that has just joined a new branch of Abstergo called Abstergo Entertainment. Abstergo Entertainment was set up to package memories of people from the past into a product that people can buy. Those people could then relive the memories of historical figures from their own home version of the animus. You are given the task to go through Desmond Miles’ memory, the protagonist from the first four games, and collect the most interesting moments of Edward Kenway’s life. Most of the game has you assuming the role of Edward Kenway as he sails the seven seas and deals with several of history’s most notorious pirates, like Black Beard.

From the get go you can tell that Black Flag is a massive departure from the previous games, especially when it comes down to storytelling. Desmond Miles is no longer the focus of the story and a completely new set of circumstances are left to drive the narrative. While we can see the potential in making this kind of switch, it hurts the series overall since it no longer resembles the game it is based on from a story-perspective. The glue that bound the games together was Desmond’s story and how his roots were the basis of the Assassin’s order. Things were taken further with the addition of the first civilization story arch, the impending doom of our world and the first civilization’s tools including the infamous Apple of Eden. At this point, all those storylines are over and a piece of the game’s lore is gone with it. In fact, the story takes a back seat to the action all together. This is really a shame because the story of Assassin’s Creed was one of the strong points of the series. Now, Assasssin’s Creed IV: Black Flag more closely resembles any one of the several action-based franchises on consoles today.

However if you look for action in a game more than the story then Black Flag can provide that. There is a lengthy single-player campaign that delivers some truly heart-pounding moments along with more side-missions than ever before. This year’s edition in the franchise provides players with a larger overall map and more things to do in that map. There is a heavy focus on sea-exploration and naval battles so upgrading your ship and keeping on your toes is paramount. You will find yourself boarding a ton of ships to get enough money to do the things you need to do in this game like upgrading your ship and buying new weapons and armor. The game has a more expansive feeling and the open-world design has far fewer obstacles to overcome. Everything is connected seamlessly and loading times are kept to a minimum and only occur when entering major cities or fast traveling. Many fans of the series probably remember the travelling system that snuck loading times in-between travelling to new areas. In this game, you can sail from one edge of the Caribbean to the other without having to load. However, there are tons of small islands and busy ports on the way that are sure to draw your interest.

Technically Black Flag is great with very few glitches, certainly not on the level of Assassin’s Creed III: Black Flag also looks amazing graphically. As I just mentioned I did not come across any glitches or performance issues, the game did not drop in frames at any point even when I was in the thick of the action. Ubisoft have also used a great selection of music for the games score and over all the game sounds as great as it looks. One new addition, and a particularly nice touch, was the addition of crew songs in the game. As you visit some of the main areas in the game, you can collect songs for your crew to sing at sea. These songs are accurate to the time and allow you to infuse some song variety while sailing up and down the seven seas; these songs are a good natural replacement for an in-car radio that you would find in many modern open world games like GTA V.

Multiplayer has also made a return to Black Flag but is pretty much the same as it was in Assassin’s Creed III. The only change that has been made is the addition of new maps and characters. All the game modes are the same but there is a new “create-your-own” feature that lets anyone create a custom game mode and share it with the world. This feature allows you to make many changes like changing the victory conditions, length of the game, abilities that are allowed and a lot more. While this does help to add some much-needed variety on the fourth outing on this multiplayer model, it still feels like just more of the same. If you love the traditional Assassin’s Creed multiplayer, then you’ll love this, but if you wanted something more or new, then this year will fail to deliver.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a great game even though it has had many changes. The story has had a lot of changes and does not seem to be the focus for the game anymore; however Black Flag does a great job at making you feel like a pirate. The vast open world works great with the style of the game and overall is just great fun to play. From the naval battles to the more traditional assassin gameplay, this game has it all. Hardcore fans may be able to pick out a few small things that are not the best, but Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag brings us an experience that is not available anywhere else.