Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag by Oliver Bowden

Edward Kenway is a welsh man who is obsessed with seeking his fortune to better his life. He sets out on a voyage to the Caribbean to become a pirate and amass a fortune. In his adventures he crosses path with the Assassins and finds meaning, bit by bit. You get to play Kenway as he sails the seas, attacks ships, plunders warehouses, discovers shipwrecks and Mayan ruins, all in the name of booty and adventure. And a little bit of Assassin mysticism.

The cliff’s notes version of the review is : I loved almost every part of the game. It’s a game that – importantly, and unlike some other titles – DOESN’T GET IN THE WAY of your enjoyment. You want to go around pirating the seas and collecting money? The game allows for that – nay, encourages it via leaderboards.

Do nothing except explore shipwrecks? Go ahead.

Advance in the main story line? Absolutely.

The graphics (and even more importantly – the soundscape) are astonishing (This was on the PS3 version – I would bet nextgen consoles would be better). There’s a real sense of excitement as you enter a naval battle with two man’o’wars and a frigate and board them. The chaos and the commotion of a pirate ship boarding, cutlasses flying around and pistol fire ringing above your head are all palpable. Stalking through a jungle taking down sentries one by one from the bushes or with blowpipes is truly exhilarating and fluid.

This review would be incomplete without reference to other titles in the AC series: I’ve played all Assassin’s Creed games to completion. Most of them suffered from a mixture of tedious missions, finicky controls – but this was more than offset by the sense of exploration and wonder at the cities and landscapes around you and and some seriously cool graphics on the combat front.

Then came AC3. AC3 was a colossal, unmitigated catastrophe. The characters were boring, the gameplay was impossible and the tediousness of the missions was bumped up three notches (I wrote a separate review on it if you want to see my take).

AC4 fixes a lot of that: they’ve removed the emphasis on the frankly bizarre and disjointed story around Juno and the precursors races (they’re still there but really not as in your face as they were in Brotherhood, Revelations and AC3). They made sure Kenway is a character you can connect to (as opposed to Connor in AC3, which was an unlikable whiny kid you just wanted to slap).

Missions are easier than AC3 – but that’s not a bad thing. AC3 missions were hard not because they were designed to be hard, they were hard simply because they were _badly designed_, and boring. Sure you can follow someone around town for an hour, but do you have to make it tedious and impossible to do? AC4 removed the oversensitive guards that discourage you from exploring everywhere and made sure that having fun is as easy as possible.

The combat mechanics are similar to AC3 but made slightly less sensitive to user error; naval battles have become the key focal point of the game and they are spectacular.

One key point I should mention is the revamped fast travel system. From now on you can fast travel to any location you’ve unlocked – from any point and at any time (except during missions or combat of-course). You forgot to pick up a collectible you wanted in another island on the other side of the map? No more need to travel through the entire freaking world to get it. This, combined with the info panel on how many collectibles are in each location and what side missions are available, are a Godsend to those who just want to enjoy the game rather than run around an open world like a meth addled monkey.

Thank you, Ubisoft. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

All in all – even if you hated AC3 (which you most surely do) – give AC4 a try.

If you haven’t played a single title in the AC series – you have missed nothing of consequence in terms of playing the game (though you might miss some of the context of the in-jokes and the Juno story – no big loss).

I highly recommend you play it – it’s truly an awesome game.

The game was received in excellent condition and runs very smoothly.

Yes, it’s for the PS3, but I’m playing it on the PS4 now, due to the promo code given on the inside of the package that allows download of complete PS4 version of the game for just $10. I also purchased the additional ships for a few bucks but adding a lot of extra content and items that will make it all the better. The basic game: a pirate seeking adventure. That is the game. Forget the storyline of who did what to whom and what whom is going to do to who when they find them, concentrate instead on the awesome new controller the PS4 uses, (the built-in touchpad on the controller offers 4 more controls for gameplay. There is a learning curve for the controls of the character, but this is something we have all gotten used to by now. If not it must be frustrating to be you! On the PS3 the game has wonderful graphics and the gameplay is fast, steady, and attention gripping. Things appear as they do in real life, like footprints on the sand which actually sink into the beach in different ways as you move about sideways, running, sneaking, walking, or jumping. The first part of the game, like most games of this type, is a tutorial with meaning – you get to learn the controls under less threatening conditions and if you make an error it restarts from the last auto-save and on you go! I like that. I feel it’s not a cheat but a way to overcome the absolute dread of dying and having to restart the entire game. Ships are way fun to control, you steer and fire the cannons at enemies out to sink you. Ships get blown to pieces (including your own) and the outcome of a sea battle could depend on your tacking starboard and lo’ing sails to the wind, as you send round after round of cannonballs at the gold-laden transport ship and duck the fire of the 32 gun schooner protecting it. Moving about on the ship is dangerous, waves roll over the railing or crash onto it, and men, cannon, and decking go flying – thrown about like toys. So “grab yer bracer and stow yer yellow stripe for now and join the fun at sea in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag! Ye won’t regret it!” For the money you get 2 games, one for the PS3 and one for the PS4 (okay, it’s ten bucks more foe the PS4 version as opposed to $60 outright). Add a few extras if you like and you have the ultimate good time – a way to enjoy some off-time without getting in trouble with anyone!