Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag review

by Illusivebroker on May 19th, 2014

Assassin’s Creed is a well-known name in the video game industry. It’s practically Ubisofts most recognisable franchise with the multitude of titles released in the series. However as of late the series has fallen into a stale and repetitive cycle. With each game that comes out it gets a lot more noticeable that Ubisoft prefers to play the series safe in terms of its overall gameplay. This issue is even more so apparent in Revelations and Assassin’s Creed 3, as it showed the series trying to stay on the same track, while adding some new tires. But the problem is no matter how many times the series can change its tires, it’s still the same track it follows.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is a much smarter sequel into the franchise, as this time it decides to throw away the track and its tires, and opts out for a massive sea sprawling pirate adventure! Realising the aging annoyances with the previous games it’s massively noticeable while playing through Black Flag that Ubisoft has took the right direction in trying to change up the formula while still sticking true to what the franchise is about. Black Flag has you playing as Captain Edward James Kenway, a young pirate who finds himself in the turmoil between two warring secret factions; The Assassins and The Templars. Being a pirate Kenway doesn’t follow either faction but instead follows his own desires in ambition to become wealthy and live with his distant wife Caroline. Edward Kenway is a much more interesting character than Assassin’s Creed 3 Connor. His character development follows an interesting and branching path which helps to make Kenway a very human character in both his personality and his motivations.

 

While the story itself isn’t anything special, it’s merely a race to open a big First-Civilization construct between Edward, the Assassins and The Templars; it’s the characters and the setting that make the games story to inviting to play. Every main character in this game has an interesting sense of interaction and chemistry between each other. The story brings forth many key pirates back from the Golden age; Blackbeard, Mary Reed, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Bartholomew Roberts and many more. What makes these characters so interesting is their own interactions and chemistry with Edward when on screen. They all have something to provide the story, and the characters are only cemented even more with strong motion capture and voice acting from their respected actors. If anyone stands out the most it’s Blackbeard. His character is one of the wisest yet most intimidating to grace the series, his word feel like sharp knifes which can force any man to shake and quiver from the moment his lips open. It’s fair to say Ubisoft treat each of these characters respectfully, allowing them to show the history behind them while helping Kenway on his mission for wealth.

All of this is done through a modern-day perspective; Abstergo Entertainment have hired you to help test out the animus and capture game footage from Edward Kenways past. They imply to you that it’s simply to capture the game footage, but knowing Abstergo you can assume something shadier is happening. As the story progresses you pop in and out of the animus to interact in the modern day, it’s all done from a first person perspective, which I kind of feel robbed by. If I’m working for Abstergo, wouldn’t it be even cooler to create my own character to add a deeper sense of immersion into the world? While exploring you can hack into the systems around the offices and learn some hidden secrets about Abstergo and their true masters; it’s nice enough to do all this, but it’s not the main reason that will have you keep coming back to the game.

The biggest expansion to the gameplay in this game is the navel exploration and battles. Walking will no longer be the main form of transport in this game, as the captain of the Jackdaw, you are allowed to travel the Caribbean seas on your own mighty vessel. Sailing has never felt as enjoyable as it has on this game, it feels dynamic and fluid, with the ship feeling like a proper ship whenever you put it into full or half sail. Combat wise the ship can be a dreadnought of mighty firepower, with broadside cannons, mortars, swivel guns and naval rams all capable of putting a mighty big dent in any ship that opposes you. What’s also good is that over time, the more effort you put into purchasing upgrades for the Jackdaw, the better the ship will be in terms of its arsenal of weapons, as well as its visual look. It’s overly satisfying to watch as your ship turns into a vessel that can take on a Man’o’war quite easily.

Whenever you’re finished fighting with a ship you also have the option to board it, like a proper pirate! What makes these moments so good is the fact it all seems seamless, as soon as you’re finished fighting a ship it’s a quick press of the circle button and you’re straight onto that ship, killing its guards and reaping the rewards. While at the start it does seem enjoyable, it can get a bit repetitive, especially with bigger ships, but the fact it all manages to base itself in a seamless fashion is rather impressive. You have a good array of ships to attack, with the difficulty ranging depending on which region of the sea you sail in. With the hardest of them being the four legendary ships, which will sink any man foolish enough to test their might.

On land the gameplay follows the updated combat mechanics that Assassins Creed 3 managed, with a few new tweaks. Being a pirate you can dual wield sword and cutlasses in a pure badass fashion, but it gets noticeable quite fast that the gameplay can be very repetitive when it comes down to pressing circle to block and square to execute. Navigation and traversing buildings seems a bit better this time around, as there seems to be a fair balance between trees and buildings to navigate across. You can take part in a multitude of side-activities while you play as Edward Kenway. You can take assassination contracts, look for collectibles, liberate forts, kill Templars, and solve Mayan puzzles and do many other activities. There’s a lot of stuff here for completionists to enjoy.

Visually the graphics for this game on PS4 are superb, this is one of the better cross-gen games when it comes to detail and resolution. Details are clearer, facial animation is much smoother, colours and lighting feel vibrant and strong throughout the game. The graphics are indeed impressive and work well of the specs that the PS4 provides.

Multiplayer is a decent component too, although it doesn’t change much from the previous multiplayer mode. While there are a new set of characters and game modes, the modes still follows a similar path that will either impress you, or put you off it depending on what your previous opinion of it was,

Overall Assassins Creed 4 does well in breaking away from the series’s old chains, it still follows and presents a similar look and feel in terms of combat and land based navigation. What makes this game stand out from the others was the impressive sea-based navigation and combat, the mechanics of the sailing alongside the beautiful tropical setting and the well characterized historical figures really set this game out in its story, even if it isn’t really much to be inspired for. It comes highly recommended on PS4 as well, with great resolution and graphics to the design of the world and its setting.

Rating: 4/5

Categories: Reviews