As a newcomer to the Assassin’s Creed series (the first 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’ll go on record as Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag being 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 amazing views. The faces and expressions of the cast are also well done and the voice acting is top notch. This is hands down the most beautiful game I’ve ever played, and the audio is up to par as well. With that out of the way, let’s focus on how it plays.
As a pirate, sorry privateer, Edward Kenway, you sail the Caribbean in search of fame, fortune, and something called the Oracle, a source of power and knowledge that is pursued by the Templar faction of the series. You spend roughly half of that search combing towns, beaches, jungles, and other land-based sites, using your free run ability to navigate them with ease. I wasn’t impressed with the free run in Assassin’s Creed III, but here it’s so well integrated with the environment that it feels like second nature.
The rest of his time is spent on the Jackdaw, his sailboat. The seas are amazing to navigate as the waves toss your ship from side to side, crashing against the deck before flowing through the openings along the sides. The variable weather and climate make things interesting, as she can navigate anything from a calm sunrise to a rainy or stormy night. Controlling the ship is fairly straightforward, if not realistic (watching your ship parallel park in a port is fun), though I’d argue that more realistic controls would be a hindrance rather than a blessing.
Stealth has never been my forte. Given the choice in a game, you’re more likely to kick in a door than go in through a window, but Assassin’s Creed 4 makes stealth more palatable by using quick kills to deal with patrolling guards and plenty of hiding places. When forced out of hiding, the combat is quite clunky and seems to want to use a Batman: Arkham Asylum/City/Origins attack/parry/counter style, but it doesn’t work very well, especially in fights involving more of two enemies in tight areas, such as when boarding a ship. Part of the problem is combat lockup that makes it difficult to switch targets to deal with changing threats.
Being an Assassin’s Creed game, you also have to deal with a modern environment 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’re playing a game about 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 gone too far.
Other than that, it’s hard to find anything not to like about Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The graphics are phenomenal, the gameplay is good, and the story, apart from the modern bits, works well enough to keep playing. This is an action game that everyone should try.
