Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (2013)

I am on a journey to beat 360 random Xbox 360 games. Here's my next adventure

Game number 55 was Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. Let’s get it out right away; Black Flag is my favorite AC game and has been since its release. You get all the fun of exploring an interesting period of time and parkouring/sneaking throughout the land while also being able to be a pirate. The story is one of the best of the series and Edward Kenway is one of my favorite AC protagonists… plus you get to be a pirate. Furthermore, the storyline outside the animus is much less involved than all the Desmond games, but still exists. I like that they still have modern day lore, but it is much, much smaller than previous games. It gives you more time to focus on being a pirate!!

The plot of AC4 follows the pirate Edward Kenway as he navigates both the Caribbean seas and the complexities of piracy in the first two decades of the 1700’s. At the start of the game, Edward’s ship is attacked by a member of the Assassin’s who was in the process of defecting over to the Templars. Kenway and the Assassin are marooned and Kenway is eventually able to kill the Assassin and assume his identity. After escaping the island, Kenway meets up with the Templars in Havana and falls into a larger plot about finding this mythical place called the observatory.

While finding the observatory is Edward’s main goal, there are many things that get him side-tracked throughout his time as a pirate. The main one is he and some other pirates decide to set up a free city in Nassau and they have to deal with many adversaries in achieving this goal. Edward is a man who doesn’t say that he stands for anything, but is always down to help his friends out when they are in need… sadly this is a story with many losses for Edward. It is beautiful to watch Edward struggle through his grief and make it to the other side a better man. In fact, Edward’s personal struggle for identity and conviction are the most interesting aspects of AC4. I really like the story here and I’m sure you will as well!

The gameplay in AC4 is nothing short of superb! Edward moves with a perfect speed and stealth around the many cities and islands he will encounter. I have always enjoyed the parkour of the AC series and it is still here! I would say that the cities are much smaller than the European ones and it would have been nicer to scale giant cathedrals; but what we got here was still great. The pistols Edward uses are extremely powerful and I really encourage anyone reading this to use them. They shoot really fast and often insta kill an enemy. One skill that has been really upgraded is Edward’s ability to whistle at guards. In previous games you could only whistle in certain spots, but Edward can now whistle any time he is in cover and it is an amazing tool for anyone who wants to be stealthy.

While the ground gameplay is cool, the real reason anyone wants to play AC4 is to be a pirate sailing the seas and I can gladly say that it was done amazingly here. I can’t think of a game that has done single player sea faring better than this. You essentially move the ship through the water at 4 different speeds (based on your sails) and get to use an array of cannons and guns to take down other ships. Once a ship has lost all of its health, you can then board the ship to take all of its loot and get an additional bonus or you can just blast it! If you choose the second option you are still able to recover half of the ship’s loot.

One thing that I guess I could see being annoying is the process of upgrading your ship (the Jackdaw). There are dozens of things that can be upgraded and most of them can be upgraded multiple times. These upgrades require both money and resources (which you get from pirating other ships). The problem is that the higher upgrades require a TON of resources and money. You will have to grind ships if you plan on getting these higher tier upgrades. I never had a problem with this… because I spent hours just sailing around attacking ships, but you may not enjoy the ship combat as much as I do. If it hasn’t come across yet, I absolutely love the ship combat!!

There are so many side quests and activities here that will help you get money and resources to upgrade your ship. You have the traditional assassination contracts from previous games, then you have 4 multi-staged templar assassination questlines (these are a must do!!!). If you are out sailing then you can come across areas where Edward can use a diving bell to reach the bottom of the ocean and explore shipwrecks. Finally, there are just a ton of explorable islands that aren’t a part of the main story! Fulfill your dreams and go explore random places that show up on the map! I promise it will be fun!

Overall, I absolutely adore AC4! Being a pirate is one of those things that only a video game can fully engage the player with. It is so much fun sailing around, boarding other ships, taking their supplies, and then traveling to new islands to explore. Furthermore, the plot is great and Edward is such a fun character to do all this with. I feel like singing a sea shanty as I write this because it just gets me in the mood to think about being a pirate. Truth be told, some kids are into cowboys or ninjas or big trucks, but my inclinations have always been space and pirates. Yes, I do think that I am the exact target audience for this game, but I also think that everyone who plays AC4 will also think its a masterpiece. (10/10)

I spent 39 hours, 30 minutes, and 57 seconds playing Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.

I have spent a total of 613 hours and 52 mintues on the road to 360 so far.

Next game: Assassin’s Creed Rogue (almost done with all of them)

Played on PS3, May 2017

Pros: The naval gameplay is amazing and controls very well. I never got tired of boarding ships or taking over forts. Havana is a beautiful city, and I wish the other two major cities could have been a little more like it. Well paced introduction and story. It is very satisfying to sail to a new location and hunt down all the collectibles (except a few tough ones on some jungle island interiors that were hard to find). The upgrade system for both the ship and Edward gave even more fun goals to pursue. Shanties are great.

Cons: I still don't care about the modern day story, and I wish I could skip it completely. Some of the trailing/eavesdropping missions were annoying, but there were usually plenty of bushes/rooftops to use. The combat can be frustrating when there are too many targets: I will break defense on a heavy, then attempt to kill him, but the game makes me target some other enemy instead and my attack bounces off. I don't know why they don't let you lock on to an enemy. This has been an issue in this series for awhile now, but I especially noticed it in this game and Rogue during boarding actions. I didn't like the sharks during diving sequences, I felt like there should have been much more seaweed to hide in. Too hard to 100% because optional goals aren't always clear and I don't want to play modern day frogger. But these cons don't detract too much from the overall greatness of the game.

Replay at some point.

For some reason, I had trouble starting this entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise. I started it some time ago, then put it aside for many months after the opening sequence. It just didn't grip me.

Upon returning to the game, I found an enjoyable, swashbuckling good time with it. I thoroughly enjoyed the revamped ship battle scheme, with the intuitive selection of weapons (if however, slightly irritating that the side cannons seemed to activate at about four degrees off the bow). And it became even more enjoyable once I learned the chain+ram tactic. I didn't even use the ram at all until about 60 of the game when I questioned how to beat one of the lvl 60 Man'o'wars. Then I happened to run in to one head on and it took about 70 percent of the health away and I went, "Oooohhhhh". =)

I've seen some opinions regarding that this wasn't an "Assassin's Creed" game as it didn't deal with the Assassin's too much. To me, I liked this departure. After five games where the focal point was: "how did so and so know nothing about the Assassin's and then get roped up into them with a convenient plot twist and now is a pivotal character in their history," it was nice to see a small departure. I enjoyed Edward's passing ambivalence towards them until the end of the story when he makes his amends.

I also enjoyed the immense amount of backstory the Abstergo elements brought. I understand some players disliked this discourse, but if you have been a fan of the (back)storyline of the entire franchise, I think you will also enjoy this.

All in all this was a great entry into the story. I wish the platinum trophy wasn't tied to multiplayer, but I guess that's the nature of the new beast.