Background
In Black Flag we play Edward Kenway, a brash young fortune seeker who has sailed off to earn his millions by any means necessary. Embroiled in the pirate life some time after his initial departure, he is lured by the promise of easy money and so takes on exceedingly more dangerous pursuits in the hope that he might finally fill his boots and return home to England a successful 'privateer'.
However, the Caribbean hides some secrets of it's own and there's a twist or two in store for Cap'n Kenway.
...................................................................................
The Review
We booted the game up and the first things that hit us were the visuals and sound design. The colours are vivid, the seas are blue, the breeze is welcome and the port of Havana, one of the many locations in the massive game world, is bustling with life. Assassin's Creed, we thought. You've redeemed yourself.
Upon arriving at the first destination, we were treated to a good, solid initiation of the controls, step by step, part by part. This, we felt, though it is elementary, was entirely neglected in AC3. Next we meet a character or two, and this time around they have some real personality. Although there is a hint of satire and stereotyping in Black Flag's character design right from the outset, we were exhausted by Connor's seriousness in the previous game and the return to vibrancy and humour was a very, very welcome change.
The story is set around the Caribbean islands during the days of Blackbeard and co, and as such sailing is a pivotal part of the game. We had our doubts about whether steering a ship around the ocean was a great basis for entertainment, but this has been handled exceptionally well. It didn't take long to discover that there is so much to do and see in the Caribbean islands of Black Flag that sailing is not merely a means of travel but a thoroughly purposeful and enjoyable experience.
Throughout the seas there are ships to plunder, resources and money to steal, forts to take over, islands to rob blind and a whole host of other little gems and treasures to be found.
Sailing itself is a fairly easy task, (unless you get caught in a storm) simply because the game does such a good job of putting forward the controls. We speed up with the x button, slow down with the circle button, and fire different weapons from different parts of the ship depending on the camera angle. It couldn't be much simpler.
Fighting other ships or destroying forts are entertaining and often challenging tasks, particularly in the first few parts of the game when the Jackdaw isn't particularly sea-worthy. Leveling up the ships hull, equipment and crew (among other things) is a matter of coin, and upgrades can be easily bought from the Captain's Quarters on ship, any time, any place.
Money can be looted from bodies, gotten by selling resources, stolen from ships or plundered from islands, treasure chests and underwater wrecks.
Boarding other ships is another feature of Black Flag that is enjoyable time and time again. It's a basic enough premise - blast a ship until it's near death, then board it, kill the crew and steal its cargo, but carrying this task out can be difficult, especially if the enemy ship is bigger and badder than the Jackdaw is at any given stage. These kinds of battles are intense and we found ourselves wanting to replay them time and time again just to win.
The rule is, if you board the ship, you get all the cargo, if you destroy the ship, you get half. The player can also check to see which type of cargo (and how much of it) a ship is carrying by looking through the telescope Kenway carries, and this saves unnecessary battles since certain upgrades require certain materials. So for instance, if a ship has no metal, and the upgrade the player is after requires metal, then fighting that ship would be a waste of time.
Thankfully, the seas are teeming with ships of all sizes and cargoes, and between the story missions, there is unlimited opportunity to explore them and do battle.
Another element of sea battlings are the forts. These are heavily defended islands, inherently, holding castles that the player can blast to smitherines and then infiltrate and take over, so that instead of the player getting fired upon if he should near the fort, the conquered fort will fire upon any ship that is not flying the Black Flag. This adds a different dynamic to parts of the story where the player must sail past these forts, and we would advise taking over as many of these as quickly as possible to help out in any sticky situations that may come along in the waters that surround them.
The main story itself revolves around Kenway and his pursuit of gold, but with the mix of characters, assassins and templars, the story becomes immersive fairly quickly. The settings for story missions, and the way that the missions are explained throughout the cutscenes (which are frequent enough to give a good pacing, but infrequent enough as not to become an annoyance) give the story purpose. Each mission feels compelling, something that earlier games did well and that was lost in AC3.
The story, settings and gameplay were so compelling, actually, that we played this game for nearly 14 hours straight.
Although most of the time is spent on sea (unless you fast travel everywhere, which can be done, but isn't advised), dry land offers just as much, if not more entertainment than the waters. The assassin's contracts are back alongside a host of new features such as raiding certain islands of their warehouse cargoes, hunting animals to make specialist weapons and saving fellow pirates from British guards. These features, among the others, make Black Flag a teeming environment through and through. It is begging to be discovered, explored and conquered.
The cities and smaller island towns and villages are not as vast as say, Constantinople for instance, but they offer a similar vibe and feel to many of the previous games. Courtesans return in the form of 'dancers' and pirates can be recruited for muscle power in virtually all towns and cities.
Combat itself isn't massively different than Assassin's Creed 3 but the slight polish it has been given makes it just as enthralling and enjoyable as the rest of Black Flag is. Fighting with two swords adds a great dynamic and the system for shooting guns and darts feels much more quick, smooth and fluid than in AC3. Shooting is practical again.
As always, the game rewards stealth and certain missions come with extra incentives to use it. Figuring out how to silently take out the guards or slip by them altogether is a welcome challenge and we found ourselves restarting missions simply because we wanted to do it quietly. However, getting caught isn't the death sentence that it so often was in AC3 and open combat, though not quite as satisfying as playing a ghost, is still pretty satisfying.
We could list the features and merits of this game all day long, to be frank, but above all else, Assassin's Creed Black Flag puts the player in one of the most original, beautiful and compelling game worlds ever created, and you need to discover it for yourself.
It's bloody brilliant.
The Good
Fluid controls and intelligent mission layouts make combat and stealth fantastic, rewarding experiences.
Settings are compelling and take on a fresh perspective with the pirate concept.
Story is well paced and Kenway is a likeable character.
Seafaring is a great adventure.
Huge, open game world, brimming with things to do.
The Bad
We can't think of anything in particular. Not enough rum? The story could have been longer. Not that it was short, but when it ended we were sad.
The REALLY Good
No other game has this kind of presence (except maybe Uncharted). The graphics are out of this world.