It’s refreshing to find a place for team pirate in a world of fair-skinned sparkle monsters and other variations of the fanged stalkers that would send Bram Stoker into a homicidal frenzy. It’s also refreshing that those aforementioned pirates are as burly and barmy as Billy Bones at the Benbow, and constantly deliver bouts of baddass-ery whether on ship or land. Ubisoft managed to restore the series to the glory it found in its second release, and surpassed it in both setting and scope. With sea shanties aplenty, and rum by the barrel-full, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a dream for those born several hundred years too late to experience the historical blunder for themselves.
Naturally, it all begins with a shipwreck. I survive, and there’s a beached stranger in need of my help. The offer of gold grabs my attention, but hardly enough to sacrifice my freebooter beliefs. I decide it best to kill him, don his familiar attire and collect the reward for the urgent delivery to Havana he spoke of mere minutes before tasting my sword. I’m supposed to be a pirate after all, and isn’t that what a pirate would do? In the opening sequence of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the pirate concept is immediately apparent. You’re not seeking revenge on those who have wronged your family. You’re not one with an ancient code or order, either. You’re a pirate in search of some quick riches, and in just under twenty minutes this is made quite clear — all fueled with the fun of open-sea battle, island exploration and cold-blooded murder — a drastic change from the campaign-length introductory missions of Assassin’s Creed III.
From the moment I was handed the reigns, I was greeted with a sense of freedom I’d never experienced with any previous Assassin’s Creed title. Yes, there have been expansive cities to explore, vast countrysides to excavate, and side-missions aplenty to conquer as desired in each iteration, but never has entering the Animus offered me such a feeling of child-like wonderment. I found myself developing an obsession with delving deeper into its interesting and beguiling world as my map became a peg-board of engaging sights, activities and variable distractions — with surprising opportunity hiding around every virtual corner. At its best, Black Flag can feel much less like another episode in an annual series, and more like a spinoff that utilizes every lesson learned in constructing a gratifying experience. Even at its worst, you’ll still be free-running across rooftops, performing an assortment of assassinations, and collecting a good deal of upgrades throughout the story. But there’s an unshakable feeling of newness accompanying every familiar act, helping to make Black Flag feel like a standalone entry rather than a sequel.
- Edward James Kenway was the main protagonist of the 2013 action-adventure video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, the sixth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series. He was also a posthumous mentioned character in Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed Rogue and Assassin's Creed Syndicate; the franchise's fifth, seventh and ninth major installments respecitvely.
- Nadia Sparrow question's the secrets that her family has within while rebelling against societies custom. Driven with a sign from her uncle and the fierceness in port royal that is spiraling down hill, she is obligated to join a creed. A creed that will show her the true meaning to rebel against societies whims.
Referring to Black Flag as “the HBO version of pirates,” he guarantees the mature game won't feature hook hands, squawking parrots or Jack Sparrow-wannabes. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
At the helm of the adventure is Edward Kenway, the great, great grandfather of Connor Kenway (the leading man in Assassin’s Creed III). Thankfully, that’s where the similarities between the two fellows end. Edward is a true pirate at heart, with riches in his eye and congeniality buried some-twelve hours deep into his long-winded storyline. The greatest praise that can be assigned to Edward is that he is nothing like Connor. Instead, he offers an identity that is as greedy as it can be charming. Yes, Edward is likely to make the list of finest Assassin’s Creed protagonists, but this acclaim is awarded rather unfairly. In terms of likability, Edward will forever be compared to his stodgy grandson, and as if by default achieves the rank of superiority. There’s a lot to love about his barbarous, swindling nature — or so it seems in contrast to the walking tree-stump that was Connor. It isn’t for many hours into the storyline that his motives become predictable, and when allowed to escape the confines of the main quest, he makes for a grand tour-guide of the pirate life.
Assassin’s Creed IV succeeds in capturing our attention from the very start, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t suffer from its own indiscretions. There’s a clumsy, disjointed story beneath the fresh coat of pirate paint, and it’s as coarse and corrupt as one would expect an adventure about pirates in the Caribbean to be — Captain Jack Sparrow withstanding. However, despite its intermittent extravagance and occasional set-piece heights, it so often fails to find itself within its tortuous legend, regularly proposing a wavering cast of forgettable personalities tasked with pushing the tale towards its increasingly discounted plot. While the entire first act of the narrative binds us to a life of pernicious plunder, prevarication and occasional poignancy, the latter half spirals into typical Assassin’s Creed territory, awkwardly shifting from one dreary, lackluster assassination to the next. The dialog throughout is mostly witty and setting-appropriate, with plenty of laughs and the occasional cringe-worthy moment. It never quite captures the heart of its premise, but it does present a charismatic few that band coherence and entertainment seamlessly.
There are far fewer dull moments in Assassin’s Creed IV than in previous installments, although many trappings of the series have made an unfortunate return. Frustrating chase sequences? Check. Annoyingly long eavesdropping sequences? Check. Ultimately, it’s when it chooses not to remind you of its roots in the series holding it hostage that Black Flag truly flies its flag most wonderfully, and succeeds as a pirate simulation that is as fun as it is cagey. While the story is not an entirely bad one, and is leagues better than Connor’s, it’s simply messy in its execution. However, despite its deficiencies it delivers a fine backdrop for an otherwise perfect pirate adventure. And that’s truly where Assassin’s Creed IV shines, as an adventure that isn’t held back by it’s historically jaded story of Templar’s versus Assassins.
The modern tidbits of story fumblingly glue together the many chapters required to achieve synchronization, your time at Abstergo Entertainment — a subsidiary of Abstergo Industries, the evil corporation founded by the new-age Templar’s — will be spent exploring office-like environments, hacking into coworkers computers through mindless mini-games and pushing the oddly structured story forward. As you’re now a faceless first-person employee, these sections are less of a confusing drawback and play their part as the bridge to pirate fun quite affably — thankfully, without a Desmond in sight. Gone are the boring, dreary speeches, and in their place a humorous presentation of the modern Abstergo — while slightly campy, it serves as a delightful change of pace nonetheless.
While there’s certainly interesting characters to be found throughout Black Flag, it’s Jackdaw in all her glory that steals the show. The Jackdaw will play hostess to your pirating shenanigans, and will be your exploratory tool in populating the map with various icons. You’ll dive for treasure, discover islands, and rob your sailing rivals of resources required for various upgrades in refined and ever-so exciting naval combat. After a few hours of exploring the seas, I fell in love with the wooden lass, and found myself thinking about her during more mundane moments of my day. Building an emotional attachment to an inanimate object is only unsafe when it’s an inflatable person — or at least that’s what I tell myself as I step before her lovely wheel.
It’s true that the story is much of the focus, but what truly captures the eye in Black Flag is the world it takes place in — the entirety of which is artfully crafted, offering vast environments decorated with gorgeously lush foliage and bright, vibrant colors. Whales will visit the surface long-enough to steal your attention, and fire-heavy battles will become a distraction you seek to discover. Ocean water will bounce about the docks as crustaceans crawl across the sandy beaches, random rainstorms will paint the world with homespun greys, and sharp lighting compliments the splashy architecture and gorgeously vivid landscape. The world is littered with detail, both large and nearly unnoticeable — making gathering the countless collectables or encountering endless enemy ships a real treat.
Each new game in the series introduces its own spin on the treasure hunt, leading players across large expanses of cityscape in search of chests, documents and various upgrades, and Black Flag is only different in that it improves the system by adding more of a purpose and value to the search. Treasure maps can now be found on corpses across the land, leading curious players to buried rewards, often containing a necessary upgrade or valuable treasure. The incentive of improved gear is enough to justify the repetitive fetch-quests, and helps to offset the mundane as you invest your time into taking on more powerful fleets in the open sea. If there’s any fault to the amount of collectibles scattered about the map, is that there are more items than reasons to continue collecting them. I must have spent the better part of an hour simply collecting music-sheets without realizing how much time had passed — something I couldn’t do for more than a few minutes in previous entries before becoming disinterested.
Side-quests make a triumphant return, with assassination missions to tackle (delivered by those lovable carrier pigeons), couriers to capture and treasures to uncover — including underwater excavations, with long-lost shipwrecks to seek and loot. The gameplay largely remains unchanged, but has been refined quite noticeably. Everything from free-running to stealth has been streamlined, allowing for more freedom in execution. Combat returns with its prompt heavy swordplay and reliance on timing rather than skill, but despite a smaller arsenal of weapons to exploit, the improved mechanics allow for nearly effortless interactions with enemies, swiftly switching blades for bombs and pistols for swords as you dance around increasingly difficult encounters. These improved controls perform gracefully (both in single player and multiplayer) across the brilliantly designed towns and landscapes, taking full advantage of every branch or windowsill. Sure, you’re still likely to stumble over passing townsfolk, and more often than desired begin climbing something you had no intention of interacting with, but at its core Black Flag is a huge improvement in both controls and their functionality.
Closing Comments:
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is the very definition of escapism, offering a mindbogglingly large amount of content. One could spend upwards of fifty hours exploring the world without completing more than a few introductory missions in the main story — which itself can offer over twenty hours of gameplay. The game does occasionally suffer from the shortcomings of its predecessor, and doesn’t quite feel like a sequel — as you’re less of an assassin and more of an imposter — but it is in fact the best and most accomplished entry to date, with a massive world to conquer, ships to plunder, rum to drink and leaders to assassinate. If you’re in the mood for killing, stealing and boarding some vessels illegally, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is the greatest pirate simulator of all time. “Piracy is the way o life. Ahoy.”
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 3
I absolutely adore the Ubisoft's Assassins Creed franchise. The way in which it captures sections of History has captivated me since its inception. But after the dull and utterly bland immersion that was attempted in the third instalment, coupled with a poor narrative, I was left feeling a bit saddened. Perhaps the yearly cycle in which they were being shipped out was actually harming the games. I wasn't feeling the connection with Connor as I was Ezio or Altiar in my past ventures, and I thought the series had hit its peak, and was now tumbling to the bottom of the cesspool of ruined franchises to wear away until some ambitious chap wants a reboot. (See Tomb Raider)
But when I loaded up Assassins Creed: Black Flag, I truly realized how painstakingly wrong I was.
Assassins Creed: Black Flag - by Ubisoft
Black flag has everything you need in an adventure game. Now, I may perhaps be a little biased. I adore pirate mythos, I study it, and in gaming terms, I certainly know my Guybrush Threepwood's from my Jack Sparrow's, so I knew immediately that this game was going to quench my thirst for a true open world pirate experience that no game has seemed to master yet.
But I’d be damned if Ubisoft hasn't gone and done it.
#5 COMBAT – WEAPONS
The first incredible, and absolutely crucial, Assassins Creed: Black Flag feature is the range of weapons which truly make you feel like a notorious pirate. There is obviously the series trademark hidden blade, which makes a triumphant return on both wrists, satisfaction guaranteed every time whether it’s a head Templar or just some petty thief running amuck. This is a quality the series has failed to mess up so far and it holds true.
However, the rest of the arsenal is just as important in making this game fantastic. Sticking to the pirate ethos, Edward sports 4 (yes, you heard me correctly) flintlock pistols, which he fires in a unique combo sequence. The brute force takes away from the usual stealth aspect, but the satisfaction is just as great. Rope Darts also return, with which you can suffocate your opponents from the shadows, or pull them from their ships so you can rob them of their livelihood (which is bloody hilarious, by the way!).
No pirate game would be complete without a trusty cutlass to slice through your foes, and our hero Ed sports two which he can whip out in the heat of the moment to turn groups of foes into mincemeat.
#4 MOVEMENT – HYPER REALISTIC
The parkour we all love returns in style, this time incorporating the rough islands that line the Bahamas, and of course the naval combat infuses the movement perfectly. After smashing through the initial defences of a British warship, you can cut a rope and swing over, sometimes choosing to air assassinate the poor sap who is obviously taking up your landing space.
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Mod Jack Sparrow Free
Both horizontal and vertical movement styles are crisp and fluid in control and feel fantastic. Finding forgotten islands and traversing every nook and cranny is highly gratifying, as you swing across crags and clamber through foliage up above the briny deep.
Even scaling ships is rewarding, with nigh on every part available to climb across, tempting you to eventually dive deep into the water where you can find huge squids and loot shipwrecks. The animations are perfectly crafted, and every single movement feels constructed to have its own personal purpose to immerse you as the pirate captain you have always wanted to be.
#3 VEHICLES – NAVAL
Another crucial Assassins Creed: Black Flag feature which entangles you in the life of a pirate is, of course, Edward’s ship, The Jackdaw. It starts off a lowly brig, but after you earn your black flag and hoist it high, it is yours to cruise around in. The movement across the sea is fine-tuned and there are plenty of activities to keep you occupied. You can obviously ransack other ships and add them to your trading routes, so you can operate an elevated pirate business where you can trade goods for money or vice versa. This, in turn, earns you a pretty penny with which you can upgrade everything about your ship. This includes the cannons, the hull armour, mortar capabilities, and even the force at which you can ram other ships into oblivion.
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Guide
Hell, even if you just care about the cosmetics, you can fine tune those too to ensure you abide to 1700’s pirate chic. The weapons are all equally fun to use, and they all hold their own unique purpose in battle, like the mortars distinct ability to shell forts from far away, which you can then raid on foot. Finally, the ship is also equipped with a diving bell, as well as a rowboat and harpoon’s, so you can hunt for rare sea life or find buried treasure in forgotten shipwrecks.
#2 STORY – IMMERSION
The last few games in the series were certainly lacking in variation and interesting characters, but Black Flag ticks both of these boxes perfectly. The story is riddled with intriguing plot twists, pirate betrayal and mysterious conflicts, accompanied with a dash of the usual conspiracy jargon that has infused prior games. Most importantly though, it’s the characters that make this game truly fantastic.
Edward himself is lovable, and as a change from the other games, the titular character isn’t sworn into the assassins by oath or partaking in it for revenge purposes. The guy just wants to go out and make a fortune as a landlubber, and he won’t let anyone get in his way (including pesky Templars, of course). The side characters also make the game’s cut scenes highly enjoyable, as they all have interesting back stories which you can probe via extra missions to learn all of the well written and interesting lore
These range from Adewale, a slave turned pirate who acts as Edwards’s right hand man. James Kidd, a mysterious young pirate who joins Edwards crew, and of course the famous pirates themselves, featuring the likes of Blackbeard and Jack Rackham, who all mingle with the cast and mould the story into an action packed adventure to get lost in.
#1 Assassins Creed: Black Flag Feature: OPEN WORLD - VASTNESS
Assassins Creed: Black Flag features an enormous map. It takes roughly half an hour to traverse across it, and there are over 50 incredibly unique locations, teaming with collectibles and a lively atmosphere that changes each time you visit. Whether you want to go and beat up heathens in a tavern in Kingston, do some dodgy trading in Nassau, or hunt Templars in Havana, you decide. Whatever floats your boat, quite literally,
But the fun doesn't stop there. Out on the seven seas, the world is your oyster. I've often found myself at 2am just shooting at innocents in my warship, singing along to the shanties of my tireless crew as we gallivant unto the resurrection hour with rum in our bellies, and blurry visions of gold. Excuse me for getting a touch lost in my pirate fantasy there, but that is the entire point. You will lose yourself out there, and then find yourself in the best way possible, hunting down legendary ghost ships, or even killer whales, and always giving yourself a mediocre excuse as to why you should anchor up and check in at some tiny island, just in case you didn't loot every last penny.