Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag set sail Oct. 29 and brought with it a slew of changes to the annual Ubisoft franchise.
The subtitle “Black Flag,” and the pirate aesthetic of the game in a larger sense actually represent a rebel/ outcast in the franchise as a whole with some of the changes and additions to the game. Most of these changes are evident in the protagonist: Edward Kenway. His aspirations, past and motivations all represent an anomaly in the line of previous Assassins. His place in the eternal feud between Templar and Assassins is more opportunistic and less fate-driven.
The exploration aspect is also a major change from previous iterations. Most of the discovery comes not on the land, which also changes some of the historical aspects of the series, but on the water, with an elaboration on the ship mechanics started in AC:3.
Note that this review touches on the single player and not the multiplayer mode.
Watch the launch trailer below
Edward Kenway
Edward Kenway – Xbox Wire media Assets
In AC: Black Flag, the player assumes the role of Edward Kenway, an aging privateer in 18th century West Indies. Kenway’s aspirations involve the search for a “big score,” with riches that will free him from the life of plundering and bloodshed that he’s become accustomed to.
At first, Kenway appears one-dimensional, fueled by greed with no moral constraint, until the game presents the player with flashbacks of Kenway’s life. While working on a farm and living with his wife, Caroline, Kenway becomes restless, eager to improve his wealth beyond that of a common folk. The method through which he hopes to achieve this goal is pirating, something that doesn’t sit well with Caroline. Kenway leaves (after being kicked out by Caroline) to pursue a pirate’s life.
These recurring flashbacks give Kenway more depth and believability. However, this story of the tragic hero isn’t as severe and compelling as Ezio’s (with his father and brother murdered in front of him, in AC:2) or Connor’s, with the burning of his home village (in AC:3). Yes, Kenway is working towards an admirable goal of being able to reunite with his wife and live a better life but at what cost? His moral compass proves cracked enough to let him fully believe that ends justify means, those means being typical malicious pirate activities like killing, stealing and banding together with the likes of Blackbeard and others.
Eventually, Kenway stumbles into the global power struggle of the Assassin’s Creed series between the Templars and Assassins after conning his way into a group of Templars chasing the “observatory.” The observatory is a mystical all-seeing eye through which those in control would have nearly limitless power. Giving away anymore of the story would be spoiling too much, but it’s safe to say opposing forces clash, with Kenway stuck in the middle, forced to take sides in a war with increasingly severe consequence to his life. The ending is well done and ties up loose ends, adding more to the AC mythology, and paving the way for the next iteration of the series.
…Opposing forces clash, with Kenway stuck in the middle, forced to take sides in a war with increasingly severe consequence in his life.
Kenway’s adventures take him to multiple tropical locales such as Kingston, Jamaica, and Havana, Cuba. While these locations offer a suitable setting for Kenway’s privateer story, they offer less historical significance than early Boston (AC:3) or Florence during the Italian Renaissance (AC:2). Ubisoft does offer historical context (provided in the Animus database), featuring the background behind real-life places, buildings and people, but it’s simply not as satisfying as reading the historical significance of more recognizable places in past Assassin’s Creed games. The locations in Black Flag are not as fully realized, and almost blur together to a universal aesthetic of sea and shanty town.
Abstergo Entertainment
Running parallel to Kenway’s story, the modern-day storyline of the Templars and Assassins also makes a return. This time, Desmond is gone, and instead the vehicle through which the story is explained is a nameless, faceless (first-person view) employee at Abstergo Entertainment, a game developer and subsidiary of Abstergo Industries sifting through Desmond’s ancestor’s memories to create entertainment experiences for the masses. As the employee, the player is tasked with sifting through the memories of Kenway as part of the new product Abstergo is creating. But along the way, this nameless employee, with the help of another employee, begins to peel away at the facade of Abstergo Entertainment, revealing its more sinister motives.
The addition of a fully-realized Abstergo Entertainment office is impressive, but overall this part of the game falls flat, serving as a necessary but mundane way for the modern narrative arc of Assassin’s Creed to continue. The actual plot points should prove tantalizing for fans of the series’ in-depth arc, but these are dragged along through simplistic hacking mini-games and dull dialogue.
And it goes without saying (because it’s evident in all AC games), but the way the employees of Abstergo refer to Kenway’s story as a video game, in an odd, self-aware, third-person way, breaks some of the immersion when actually playing as Kenway, realizing that it’s all a memory and part of designing an entertainment product.
Stalk your Prey
Assassination – Xbox Wire Media Assets
Kenway’s moral ambiguity proves to be a catalyst for some of the more violent aspects of the new game. And that may have been a necessary part of crafting the story of a pirate, considering pirates are morally bankrupt by nature. This makes Kenway one of the most entertaining Assassins to play as, lessening the need for non-lethal and stealthy approaches (which are still available), opening the flood gates for more brutal take-downs and fights.
In Black Flag, Kenway is agile as ever. Ubisoft has been constantly tweaking the player movement over the years and it shows. Lateral movements while free-running are quick and sharp, helping with dodging obstacles during a chase, or changing direction on rooftop.
The climbing mechanic has been slightly improved, making it easier to sprint along and climb earthy, uneven terrain (rocks and trees), and manoeuvring around the heights of ships along ropes and posts. However, the normal stickiness of the climbing mechanic is also back. While free-running, Edward will often get caught on climbable obstacles, breaking the flow and leading to frustration. Manoeuvring on ships is impressive, but the tight angles and intricacies of their design often make them difficult to seamlessly explore.
The combat of Black Flag is not a far cry from the rest of the series. The normal plethora of cringe-inducing executions seems to suit Kenway’s character. He also wields a vast arsenal of cutlasses, assassin blades, blow darts, pistols, rope darts and throwing knives, most of which can be upgraded and improved through the numerous in-game shops or the crafting mechanic. Taking on multiple enemies at a time is still enjoyable, with more in-depth, cinematic multi-kills and combos.
With stealth being such a large part of the AC franchise, Ubisoft doesn’t hesitate to include numerous stealth-focused missions. And while the stealth mechanics of the game work well, the repetition of these mission types is a negative. The main stealth missions in the storyline seemed to be tailing and eavesdropping. To a fault, these missions end up taking the spotlight toward the last half of the game.
It almost seems as though Ubisoft needed a cheap way to literally move the story along, so they resorted to having the player slowly follow and stay within range of persons of interest, and listen to mostly forgettable dialogue between them. This is about as linear as the game gets, leaving little room for creativity in gameplay and no room for error. Staying too far behind targets or being spotted results in an instant fail. Failing results in being booted back, in most cases, to the beginning of the mission. In these situations, the checkpoint system in Black Flag proves especially lacklustre.
Captain of the Jackdaw
The Jackdaw – Xbox Wire Media Assets
During the main story, Kenway finds himself at the helm of his own ship, the Jackdaw. This is where the gameplay of Black Flag truly separates itself from the rest of the series. The immediate standout feeling of navigating such a large ship is its weight and inertia. Feeling the sway of the ship’s body as it heads into an angled headwind, or lining up the bow with a rogue wave is exhilarating. Ship navigation requires constant attention. By adjusting the various range of speeds by shouting commands to the crew, you prevent travelling off course, crashing into land, or sailing into enemy territory.
If spotted by an enemy frigate, the ship combat is pure palm-sweating entertainment.
Depending on the angle facing the enemy ship, the different weapons of the ship – front chain shots, side cannons, swivel gun or explosive barrels – are active, allowing for tactility and planning during battle. Wear down a ship to where it’s incapacitated and it can be boarded. Boarding allows the crew of the Jackdaw and Kenway to swing onto the enemy ship and start a bustling clash of guns and swords. Boarding is rewarding (salvaging supplies for further upgrades) but does prove tedious after the first few times it’s done. And during the boarding process, the number of characters on screen seems to almost break the combat system at times, with allied crew members accidentally attacking Kenway, troubles with locking onto enemies and getting hit from all angles.
Limitless Activities
Underwater Diving – Xbox Wire Media Assets
The most entertaining storyline missions are the ones that introduce a new activity available to the player outside of the main story, such as ship exploration or assassination contracts.
There is an incredible number of side activities in Black Flag, ranging from diving into underwater shipwrecks for sunken treasure to hunting a variety of animals for crafting upgrades. Right from the point when Kenway commandeers the Jackdaw, the huge open water map opens up, revealing undiscovered locations to explore. Discovering these locations opens up a whole new set of side missions, and a whole new land area to explore on foot. These activities have there own set of rewards, like armor and money.
Experience the pirate’s life
Edward and Blackbeard – Xbox Wire Media Assets
Ubisoft has achieved an impressive amount of immersion through its visuals and sound. On land, the same engine used in AC3 brings the vibrant, lush jungles and gritty shanty towns alive, and populates them with an impressive amount of AI. On the water, the amount of detail in an activity only involving a ship and the sea is impressive. The wind flows along the surface of the water, and the reddish hue of the endless, evening sky is gorgeous. When traveling at the highest speed, the HUD vanishes, leaving just the ship and the open waters visible.
The most notable problems with the visuals occurred when loading a scene. Texture pop-in would often persist, along with some screen tearing when hiding along walls and moving the camera. The frame rate tended to lag when boarding ships, due to the multitude of on-screen characters, but it didn’t dip to the point of being unplayable. And keep in mind, this is the Xbox 360 version. Black Flag is also releasing on the next-gen consoles in a few weeks, where these problems should be few and far between.
Brian Tyler had the arduous task of composing music for a series famous for hauntingly-beautiful scores, and he didn’t disappoint. Jaunty fiddling and upbeat, lively percussion compliment the ambient crashing of the waves and the shrieking of birds flying overhead. When on board, the crew will come together and sing a number of sea shanties, bringing a spine-tingling novelty to the overall experience of controlling the Jackdaw.
Overall, Black Flag’s use of visuals and sound work together to form inspiring, picturesque moments, adding weight and emotion to acts as simple as sailing the Jackdaw.
When on board, the crew will come together and sing a number of sea shanties bringing a spine-tingling novelty to the overall experience of controlling the Jackdaw.
Set Sail
Cover Art – Xbox Wire media Assets
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag proves that a series can remain fresh after over half a decade and through annual releases. For fans of the series, this is a must-buy, not only to travel further into the AC mythology, but also to experience the vastness and envelopment of the open water and the brutal beauty of the ship combat. For newcomers to the franchise, this is as good a starting point as any. Gameplay-wise, Black Flag doesn’t have a steep learning curve. Story-wise, newcomers may want to study up on the over-arching narrative of the Templars and Assassins to put some of the modern aspects of Black Flag’s story into context.
8.75/10 – Excellent
