Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Review (PS4)

By Derek Strickland on November 28, 2013 11:18 am@Mr_Deeke

The Assassin’s Creed franchise takes to the high seas. Come aboard and read our review.

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: Nov. 15, 2013
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, PC
Genre: Action Adventure
MSRP: $59.99

Avast ye scalliwags, set sail and raise the Black Flag!

Assassin’s Creed IV is one of the Playstation 4′s launch titles that adequately reflect the console’s raw power and refined finesse, and remains one of the premiere must-have games for the next-gen era. Every single moment–whether its cannon-fights across the high seas or cut-scenes–is captured in crystal clear fidelity, showcasing a new age of console gaming.

The game itself is so filled with content that gamers can lose themselves in the 18th Century Caribbean for quite some, only to find they’re not even half-way done with the main quest. There is a huge variety of side missions and alternate objectives that compliment the main quest, and the modern day sequences balance out the plundering glory of Kenway’s crew quite well.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag propels the definitive franchise into the next generation of console gaming while also sending a fresh new wave of vitality through the series. The title’s historical back-drop is a compelling and unique period, providing a seamless blend of open-world exploration with the political-driven war between the Assassins and the Templars that has spanned centuries.

Black Flag introduces iconic faces and pirates of the era including Blackbeard (on Kenway’s right) who ally with our privateer to make a steadfast and deadly alliance.

Welcome to the golden age of piracy

Black Flag‘s story arc marries compelling tale-spinning with the series’ distinct blend of historical influence. The game chronicles Edward Kenway’s rise to fame within the heyday of the Golden Age of Piracy, and captures distinct landmark areas across the West Indies during this period in stunning detail–from Havana to Nassau and everywhere in between.

The plot is quite dynamic and layered; within we find Kenway impersonating a high-ranking Templar assassin, and learns of a mysterious artifact known as the Observatory. The shadowy overtones fit right in with Ubisoft’s cryptic underlying storylines involving the Precursors, and there are plenty of sociopolitical themes thrown into the mix as well.

This image perfectly captures the spread of piracy across the West Indies, featuring a lively firefight between the renegade pirates and the Spanish armada.

Ubisoft captures an era of history in stunning detail, maintaining the realism of the warring nations while fully encapsulating the anarchical spread of piracy across the West Indies. The studio fleshes out the Eighteenth Century with actual pirates like James Kidd and Blackbeard, who join up with Kenway to make an alliance of sorts.

Armed with a crew and his ship, the Jackdaw, the ambitious, silver-tongued privateer-turned-pirate-captain sets out to find the truth behind the mysterious Observatory and to do what he does best: spread chaos.

The UI is streamlined and simplified, providing a clear and concise HUD without any clutter.

The basics: UI, crafting and quests

Black Flag‘s game mechanics aren’t too varied from the traditional open-world elements we’ve come to expect from the franchise. The basics are still the same with a blend between open-world exploration, action-packed combat and stealthy strategy. You’ll also find that Edward is just as spry and agile as Ezio and Connor in climbing structures and performing sneaky assassinations.

The general UI has been more streamlined and refined to make things less complicated, with simplified interfaces for weapon selections, menus, and the in-game map.

Everything is explained in a clear and concise manner, and hitting Options brings up the main menu. Here you can craft things like pistol holsters, armor upgrades, and other miscellaneous helpful additions. You can also view upgrades for your ship and even check your progress tracker.

The main menu serves as the central hub, featuring crafting, upgrades, resources and the expansive Animus datatbase. The map, however, is accessed through the DualShock 4′s interactive touchpad.

Crafting is pretty straightforward in AC4. There are different tiers for any given set of upgrades, all of which require pelts from various wildlife across the West Indies. The stronger upgrades require exotic and rare pelts, adding an extra freeform objective to the mix.

There’s a huge offering of side quests and missions to complete whilst juggling the main quest objectives, which means there won’t really ever be a dull moment. That’s the best part about Black Flag; there’s so much to do and everything is engaging–even jumping across tree limbs to snag shanties or hunting fauna for crafting recipes can be fun.

Combat is a big part of Black Flag, and is more dynamic than ever. Players have a range of weapons to use in battle, all of which are upgradable and provide strategic advantages.

Conflict abroad: combat, weapons and AI

Combat is much more fluid as well, and now gamers can confidently jump into a whole group of Spanish soldiers without death being certain. This is mainly due to the extremely response counter system. When an enemy is about to strike, a prompt pops up, and if you press Circle in time Edward will block the attack and counter it.

Each face button has different counter moves — for example X will disarm an enemy and Square, the most useful, incapacitates them. Edward can counter multiple times, and this mechanic is very useful for any combat scenario and affords for some nice tactical strategy as well.

Edward makes use of his deadly muskets while making a stylized entrance on the battlefield.

Two main types of utilities help Edward out in those tight combat situations; weapons are scrolled with up and down on the D-Pad, making up swords, hidden blades and unarmed. The tools menu is scrolled with left and right, and includes ranged-based weapons like your muskets, blowgun and smoke bombs.

For a price, Edward can purchase different weapons from merchants. Sword sets vary with three different stats — Speed, Combo and Damage — all of which are balanced on a sword-to-sword basis. Pistols are similarly balanced, with Damage, Stun and Range as their modifiers.

Use the many stalking zones like bushes, walls, and even elevation on tree branches to stay hidden from your foes…and strike when the time is right.

Stealth is emphasized throughout many missions, and as always you’ll need to be patient — and skilled — with some parts. Thanks to the refined mechanics, though, gamers aren’t stressed so much. There are plenty of new areas to hide in, too; Edward can use everything from bushes, haystack piles, corners and trees to stay stealthy.

If you do happen to be spotted, the best thing about Black Flag is that the alert timers and radii have been altered to make things much more lenient for players. When one enemy sees you, he’ll come and attack–but the good news is that you won’t get spammed with baddies for one mess up.

This affords for a lot of flexibility and allows players to refine their skills without the cost of frustration.

Named after a native bird from Kenway’s homeland, the Jackdaw serves as the crew’s vessel and can be used for battle and exploration across the West Indies.

The Jackdaw: Ship-to-ship combat and exploration

The most notable addition to Assassin’s Creed IV is enhanced ship-to-ship combat and the exploration opportunities the Jackdaw offers. Gameplay is split between two different terrains: on the sea and on-land. Players can sail from across the seas to different landmasses, and dock at a nearby port–or just jump right into the water and swim to land.

A pirate’s life is all about plunder. With the Jackdaw’s arsenal of cannon, chain shots, and swivel guns you can wreak as much havoc as you see fit across the open waters by attacking enemy ships. Open-water conflict is interesting, fun, dynamic and challenging all at once, and affords for a unique experience that goes lengths in defining the game’s identity.

Taking on Spanish brigs with an assault of cannon fire is thrilling, and remains one of the best parts of Black Flag’s combat scenarios. The Jackdaw can be upgraded with a host of modifiers including new cannon, chain shots, or even swivel enhancements.

Using a spyglass with L1 or R1, you can scout the seas and search for your next bounty. Ships are designated into different levels, with schooners and merchant ships being easy prey and brigs, hunters and man-o-war ships putting up a good fight.

The targeting systems for each ship cannon and weapon vary, and using all of them in conjunction not only makes for an effective fight but can be the difference between life and death. To switch from the Jackdaw’s weapons, you’ll simply use the left analog stick to look at whichever type you want to use; to use the cannon, you’ll need to look to the right so that they are highlighted. Chain-shots are located at the front, and are great for those first-strike shots.

Enemy ships each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but in tandem with one another they can pack a wallop. It’s best to pick off the small fries before you take on a dreaded Man-o-War or a Hunter class vessel.

If you’re feeling brave, throw caution to the wind and engage a dreaded Man-o-War. In ship combat, the higher level the ship the more resources can be plundered, but it’s important you don’t bite off more that you can chew. Above is a ship-to-ship guide that details each of the vessel types featured in Black Flag.

Ship combat is an excellent opportunity to gain cargo and resources that are needed to upgrade your ship, like wood and metal. After you take down a ship, you have two options: board it or just blast it to smithereens. Boarding the ship is the best option and gleans the most resources, but you’ll have to kill off a certain number of the crew.

Kenway and his crew of sea dogs board an enemy ship, ready to pillage and plunder their resources.

Maintaining your ship with frequent upgrades and keeping your crew maxed is the best way to ensure a good haul. Every time you take down a vessel you’ll be able to repair the Jackdaw, and you’ll also get other resources and cargo that can be sold to local Harbourmasters for Reales (the in-game currency).

Sailing a ship isn’t all about treasure and glory, though. The seas can be very dangerous, especially in storm season. Players will face fierce cross-winds and water spouts that only want to capsize your vessel, and these dangers can be amplified by angry Spanish armada ships waiting to intercept.

Storms can be deadly for any ship, and hazards like water spouts, cross-winds and unpredictable swells can capsize even the toughest of vessels. It’s best to avoid taking on ships during these tough environmental effects.

It’s best to learn the ropes of the Jackdaw quicker than later, as you’ll spend a lot of time on its deck. Practice different maneuvers and learn your strengths and weaknesses early on, along with effective measures against multiple enemy ships–sometimes you’ll get bombarded.

The Jackdaw is a flexible ship and it’s capable of impressive things in the right hands, and a few upgrades wouldn’t hurt either. The ship controls well and overall is a joy to command, but sometimes you’ll get stuck in compromising situations–say between two irksome-placed islands–and hit a few reefs due to the wind-changes. The environmental effects across the sea are nothing short of amazing, and emulate realism to an astounding degree to provide an immersive experience.

Take to the high seas to search for plunder or explore uncharted islands for treasure–in Black Flag you get to make the calls.

Black Flag offers a lot of flexibility and gives players the opportunity to do what they want when they want. Apart from the amazing environment effects like the raging sea storms and day-to-night transitions, the sheer amount of freedom is staggering. Sail from city to city or just explore remote islands in search of plunder, harpoon sharks, or even dive deep within the ocean for treasure–it’s all up to you.

Exploration can sometimes get you into some compromising situations though, as crossing enemy territory–those tell-tale “restricted” zones–can bring high-leveled Man-o-Wars right on top of you.

In these zones you’ll come across enemy-controlled forts, which can be taken over by your crew after its been successfully barraged with cannon fire. Once the fortress is damaged enough, you can jump on land and take out the officer to gain sovereignty of the area, and subsequently unlock that portion of the main global map in the process.

Multiplayer has been overhauled, featuring the same basic set-up with additional content and a host of new characters.

Multiplayer

Ubisoft has overhauled multiplayer for Black Flag in a big new way. Players can take part in a number of different matches, and spend their U-Play points earned through the game’s campaign on outfits or upgrades. There are thirteen different classes to choose from, all of which have their own distinct fighting styles and proficiencies.

The interface has been re-designed as an Animus-style MMO game, with an intro and training session straight from Abstergo. Combat is hectic but also keeps in line with the basic controls and game mechanics featured in the campaign mode like climbing buildings and hiding in bushes.

The multiplayer levels are pretty impressive, and the mechanics are seamless so that anyone can pick up a controller and play.

A compass shows nearby enemies, and you’ll be able to exercise your stealthy assassination skills or go all-out with some musket shots in team-based deathmatches or objective-based gametypes.

Multiplayer also has its own Game Lab that allows players to create their very own customized game mode, and there are also global events that gamers can take part in with others. As an example, this week’s event involves the mysterious ghost ship The Flying Dutchman, and begins in the next four days or so.

Edward Kenway’s adventures detail his rise to a legendary pirate, shedding light on his mysterious motivations revolving around the Observatory.

Yo-ho-ho it’s a pirate’s life for me!

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is undoubtedly one of the most impressive installments of the series and remains one of the must-have titles for next-gen consoles. Ubisoft’s newest chapter offers a huge offering of content that’s replayable and vast, offering hours upon hours of play time.

Black Flag not only reveals an interesting portion of the canon mythos, touching upon an iconic aspect of the mysterious Precursors, but also delivers a deep inter-personal storyline that delves into the Templar-Assassin war. The modern day sequences further illuminate Abstergo’s shadowy history, revealing tidbits and hints from the series that haven’t been seen before.

The game’s visuals are exemplified with the immersive and incredible open-world environments, from weather effects and sprawling eighteenth century Havana to the wildlife and even the swells of the ocean. Every scene and moment in the game encapsulates the historic Golden Age of Piracy, and Ubisoft has perfectly captured the era and brought it to life in a dazzling spectacle that pushes the boundaries for the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Pros

+ Amazing graphics
+ Open-world exploration
+ Fluid combat
+ Ship-to-ship conflict
+ Weather & environment effects
+ Staggering amount of content
+ Huge map full of opportunity
+ Upgrades & customizations
+ Refined control scheme
+ Sea shanties
+ Immersive realism

Cons

- Open-sea combat can be finicky
- Second-screen app restrictions
- Minor quest problems

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