Well, it’s time to step back into the world of Assassin’s
Creed for a bit. Right now, I just got off from playing the newest game
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Yes, I haven’t gone back to Unity and I haven’t even
touched Syndicate yet. I think Ubisoft knew that I’m casual fan of Greek
mythology or something. Something had to keep me playing for that long! Anyway,
before I started on that 80+ hour venture (yeah, it took that long and I
haven’t even touched DLCs yet), I finally finished today’s subject, Assassin’s
Creed 4: Black Flag.
Black Flag was released on October 9th, 2013. It was
put on both current and next-gen consoles, but I got it for the PS3. While
Assassin’s Creed 3 wasn’t the best game, it did introduce a new mechanic to the
series: naval battles. Ubisoft took that mechanic and made it into its own
thing for this game and another one I’ll get to next time. They also decided to
throw pirates into the mix, and pirates are always cool… unless you’re Johnny
Depp these days. So, what happens in “The Adventures of Kenway 0.5 and Nameless Game Tester?”
The present day story for Black Flag takes place a year
after the events of Assassin’s Creed 3. If you don’t remember that crappy
ending, let me remind you: Desmond Miles is “deaded.” The Templars find what’s
left of him and essentially exploit his remains in order to find more Isu
artifacts. You end up playing as a nameless game tester who’s been hired by Abstergo Entertainment in
to surf through the memories of Edward Kenway, the father of Haytham Kenway.
While you end up “testing” the newest pirate game out, other familiar parties
end up contacting you throughout the game.
In the past, you end up in the early 18th century
during the Golden Age of Piracy. You’re Edward Kenway, an up-and-coming pirate
with goals of getting gold. With an Assassin uniform he pilfered from a
traitorous Assassin, he uses his ship (the Jackdaw) to sail the high seas and
go on many adventures. You end up coming across historical pirates like
Blackbeard, Ben Hornigold, and Mary Read. He has no stake in the
Assassin/Templar fight and only gets involved because he hears about the
Observatory, something that could bring him a lotta wealth. Edward does end up
coming across a character who has weird ties to the Observatory called “The
Sage." He more or less ends up as Edward’s antagonist during the game along
with Templars and other nefarious folk.
PROS
This is a pretty good game. This game succeeded where
Revelations and Assassin’s Creed 3 fell. While I liked those games, they didn’t
come close to what AC2 and Brotherhood were. Black Flag ends up doing that and a
lot more.
First off, we get a good protagonist in Edward Kenway. While
he is a pirate out for riches, he isn’t a horrible man. He just has some
misguided goals. He interacts with the Assassin/Templar conflict in an
interesting way. He kind of plays with both sides and that’s kinda cool. Yeah,
it’s less of a traditional Assassin’s Creed game, but I think that was needed
for this one. Besides, it’s fun being a pirate. You also get to interact with a
fun assortment of characters like Blackbeard and Mary Read. I also liked
Edward’s second-in-command, Adawaile.
You get to play in a pretty open world. While AC had dealt
with open worlds to a point, Black Flag take sit to a new level. You’re sailing
the open seas around the Caribbean and Jamaica. There are plenty of side quests
to do with your main mission. Heck, you’re kind of required to do some of these
missions since you have to level up the Jackdaw for certain missions. While
that can be a bit of a pain, the side quests you go on are pretty cool for the
most part.
The game mechanics are pretty much updated ones from
Assassin’s Creed 3. The fighting mechanics are the same if a little
streamlined. The sneaking mechanics are pretty much the same, though you are
using your environment more to sneak around. One thing that really got improved
on from AC3 was the ship mechanics. Sailing has gotten much better here than
there. You have more weapons, you can get some speed, and you can also pilfer
other ships. You can even hunt whales, sharks, and other big fish. It’s all pretty fun.
The visual effects are more or less much on par with the
last game. Things do seem brighter though that could be the fact that you’re in
the Caribbean. Plus, you’re sailing most of the time. Kenway’s suit also looks
pretty cool. The voice work is pretty stellar. You might get a voice that does
sound out of place, but it’s all good on that front. There are probably more
things to say, but I’ll stop there with the praising.
CONS
I hear this is where AC's present day stories started to falter. I definitely see that.
While the game is pretty nice, there are some cons here and
there. First off, the present day story is kind of lackluster. You end up
playing as a nameless game tester (I’ll call him “Nameless”) and you basically
just walk around in FP mode for those parts. I will say that the story is kind
of interesting since it does tie into what happened at the end of AC3, but
that’s about it. If there’s anything positive to say about the present day
sequences, it’s that they do provide a nice distraction to the pirate fun. You
get to hack computers, do somewhat difficult puzzles, and find out some juicy
stuff about the Templars. If you’re one who wants to know more about Abstergo,
you might like this. If you’re not one, you’ll probably skip this stuff.
Another thing that was a bit of an issue was the lack of
good villains. We don’t get any Borgias or even a Haytham in this one. The one
who probably comes the closest to a main villain is Bart Roberts, aka “The
Sage.” He actually has ties to the Isu and he ends up basically being a thorn
in Edward’s side. As for the rest of the Templars… they’re alright, I guess.
They do die easily, I can definitely say that!
I didn't run into this one, but there were some weird ones in my playthroughs.
I also ran into some glitches here and there. A couple of
them even hindered gameplay, so just watch out for those. Another thing that
can be a problem is the repetitive nature of the side missions. In a 70+ hour
game, you’re bound to run into repeating missions. Heck, this seems to be a
problem with all the AC games. It also hurts since you have to do certain
missions in order to level up your ship and supplies. It’s not horrible, but it
can be annoying at times. Other than those things and small nitpicks,
this is a cool game.
…………………………………..
In conclusion, Black Flag was a pretty good game. I don’t
know if I can call it one of the greats in the franchise, but it does get
close. It’s definitely close to AC2, which I think is still the best of the
bunch. How it stacks up with the later games… well, it might beat out a couple.
For now, I think it’s time to get ready for September. Also, I need to get back
to a certain Power Rangers event on my other blog. Until next time, Peace, God
Bless, and be careful out there.
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