Assassin’s Creed 4 One of the Best of Last Yarrr

Nothing is true, everything is permitted! Rejoice my fellow Assassins, and take to the seas! Because the highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed IV has arrived!

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is an action-adventure stealth game set among historical events, created by the team at Ubisoft Montreal, and published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth major installment in the Assassin’s Creed series; a sequel to 2012’s Assassin’s Creed III, and a prequel to its historical storyline. It was released on Oct. 29, 2013, for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. The game was also a launch title for the Xbox One and the Playstation 4, and even a Wii U version was released.

Let me start off by saying I thoroughly enjoyed this title, more so the Assassin’s Creed III.

Without giving away too many details of the story, you take the role of a new Assassin, Edward Kenway, a pirate out to make his life an easy one by trying to strike it rich through piracy. In the first moments of the game, Edward is put right into a battle against a traitor among the Assassins, then assuming his identity, he learns of a place called the Observatory, which he believes will make him rich. Next, through a series of events, he assembles his own pirate crew and sets sail to find this place in hopes it will make him wealthy, which leads Edward down a new path.

I was also very impressed how the game played when you were out of the Animus. These moments are a change of pace from the swashbuckling you will do as Edward, but you’ll have to play the game to see for yourself exactly what happens.

Initially, I was afraid that this game would feel lackluster due to the setting, and with the fact that AC3 was released just last year. However this was not the case, as I feel that Black Flag stands on it’s own. Gameplay-wise everything in this game feels right. Controls are as tight as ever, combat is very fluid, and I have to say Edward is amazing at fighting. Switching between your dual cutlasses, to your multitude of guns, to a hidden blade is excellent.

Moving around with Edward I found very similar to that of his grandson Connor Kenway from AC3, which is a good thing because I felt Connor out of all previous Assassins had the best mobility.

Naval combat is a huge step up from the previous title. Matter of fact, it is one of my favorite parts in this game. Being a pirate, you will find yourself traveling the seas quite often on your own ship, the Jackdaw, along with your own crew, as you attack ships, raid forts, dive underwater for hidden treasures, hunt sharks, whales and other sea life.

The graphics of Black Flag are just about the best of the series. You can see this even on the new Next Generation consoles. Areas load out fast, details on the characters (faces, clothes, etc.) Everything comes out very fluid with few framerate issues. Looking out to the sea from the Jackdaw as you sail around seeing islands and wildlife, the various vistas definitely show the amount of detail placed into this game, making for probably one of the best graphics in a game title this year.

The story may take you some time to complete, if you don’t get side tracked with the amount of content that is available in this game, but in case you felt you can do no more with this game, check out the multiplayer modes. With the game modes available in previous AC titles revamped, and made to fit the pirate experience of the story mode, it makes for good fun to assassinate your friends and other online players.

However the game is not perfect, and it does suffer, though not tremendously, from the mistakes of the previous Assassin’s Creed titles. Some of the story missions can be quite boring, and the story does fall victim to this. A good example is some of the missions have you tailing your target to find out story related info. Also the movement can be weird as found in other titles. Running up walls I didn’t mean to, or jumping over a post I was trying to get on — these don’t kill the game per say but it’s a personal gripe of mine, and I always find it tedious.

Once you get past that, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag has to be one of the most enjoyable games I have played all year. Edward Kenway is a welcome change to the attitude of the previous titles. Not following a code other than his beliefs as a pirate. Not fighting by the Assassin’s code, but for his own ambition. I would highly recommend purchasing Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and I give it a 4.5 out of 5.