As a newcomer to the Assassin’s Creed series (the first one I played was Assassin’s Creed III), I don’t have many preconceived notions about what the series can or should be. Instead, I look at it from a more neutral angle, and from that point of view, I’m going to put on the record that Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is one of the best games I played in 2013.
First of all, this game is magnificent. That was the first thing that crossed my mind when I started playing the game and it still amazes me from time to time when scenes play with color, light, shadows and geometry to create incredible views. The cast’s faces and expressions are well done as well and the voice acting is top-notch. Without a doubt, this is the most beautiful game I have ever played, and the audio is up to the task too. With that out of the way, let’s focus on how it plays.
As pirate (sorry, corsair) Edward Kenway, you sail the Caribbean in search of fame, fortune, and something called the Oracle, a source of power and knowledge that the Templar faction of the series seeks. You spend about half of that search combing through towns, beaches, jungles, and other places on land, using your free-running ability to navigate them with ease. I wasn’t impressed with the free-running in Assassin’s Creed III, but here it’s so well integrated with the environment that it seems like second nature.
The rest of the time is spent on the Jackdaw, his sailboat. The seas are incredible to navigate as the waves toss your boat back and forth, crashing against the deck before flowing through the openings on the sides. The variation of weather and climate keeps things interesting, as you can navigate from a calm dawn to a rain or a full storm at night. Controlling the ship is fairly straightforward, if unrealistic (seeing the ship parallel park in a harbor is hilarious), although I will claim that more realistic controls would be a hindrance rather than a boon.
Stealth has never been my strong suit. Given the option in a game, you are more likely to kick in a door than to climb through the window, but Assassin’s Creed 4 makes stealth more palatable by using quick kills to deal with patrolling guards and lots of hiding places. When forced out of hiding, the combat is quite clunky and he seems to want to use a Batman: Arkham Asylum / City / Origins style attack / parry / time trial pace, but it doesn’t work very well, especially in fights that involve more. of two enemies in tight areas, such as when boarding a ship. Part of the problem is lockdown in combat that makes it difficult to change objectives to cope with changing threats.
Being an Assassin’s Creed game, there is also a modern environment to deal with, and in this case, you are an employee working on a game based on Edward Kenway. How very Meta. The game you bought to play, this game, is a game that you are supposedly testing within the game. Seriously, you are playing a game. Add to that how Ubisoft asks you in-game to rate each mission after completing it and I can’t help but feel like this part of the game started out as an inside joke that went too far.
Other than that, it’s hard to find something I don’t like about Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The graphics are phenomenal, the gameplay is good, and the story, aside from the modern parts, works well enough to keep you playing. This is an action game that everyone should try.
