Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

For quite some time I haven't been able to sit down and play a decent video game. Mainly it's due to school and that I possess several games that I've beaten at least a few times each. Not to mention that the only games I play are the ones related to my interests. This time I've decided to try a new game which I'm familiar with but I never got the full experience. That game is Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag. I heard of this game back in October 2013 but I didn't pay much attention except to the pirate motif to it. It wasn't until I recently saw the Pirates of the Caribbean movies that I decided to give the game a try. I have to say that I was mildly impressed with it, but not all of it.

Gameplay: The gameplay is the same as the previous installments in the Assassin's Creed series. You can climb, blend in with the crowd, assassinate enemies, use various weapons including the pistol, sleep/berserk darts, and wrist blades, and complete side quests aside from the main missions. The world is also enormous so there's many places to explore. What's new is that there's a naval combat system in the game which was introduce in Assassin's Creed 3 but updated for Assassin's Creed 4. In this system you can pirate merchant ships, destroy forts, harpoon oceanic creatures, or just sail the sea to your heart's content while your crew sings away. I personally enjoyed this naval system and I can't stop playing it because it's so much fun, especially when you can pirate merchant ships. Other than that the gameplay is very similar to previous titles.

Story: There are two settings in the Assassin's Creed series, a future setting and the historical setting the game takes place in. As a whole there are two groups of people: the Templars and Assassins. The Templars want to control the world and create a new order and the Assassins are a resistance force against them. I don't want to get too much into the future setting because it spans throughout the series. The future setting in this title though centers around some guy who's working for a Templar run corporation and undercover with the Assassins. The future setting in this game was really pointless and wasted my time when I wanted to go back to finish the historical story. Now that I think about it I don't know why the developers/creative team didn't just stick with the historical story by itself.

Now for the historical setting, you're a sailor/privateer named Edward Kenway who gets tangled in a plot with the Templars and the undercover acts of the Assassins. Along the way he's working with famous pirates Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and a host of other characters while establishing a pirate-run republic and searching for "The Observatory." An artifact that the Templars want to use to control the world and valuble treasure to Kenway. In the end Kenway becomes joins the assassins, establishes a pirate-run area, and prevents the Templars from reaching thier goal of world domination.

Review: I really have nothing to gripe about in the gameplay. It's all the same thing and nothing new for those who've played prievious titles. I still give high praise to the naval combat system. My words cannot fully express how much fun it is. It will get boring in time but for now it's worth it until you get the collectibles/finish side quests. The story on the other hand, wasn't all that great.

The story in Assassin's Creed technically received praise in the past but not for this one. As I said before the future setting was worthless and not good. I didn't see it as necessary nor do I think the future setting is necessary for any of the games. The historical setting was ok, better than the future setting for sure. I honestly think, after reading about the historical settings for the past games, the creative teams are running out of ideas for the story. Although I enjoyed the pirate motif it's still the same formula, become an assassin and fight the Templars. I did enjoy seeing Kenway's character develop the story itself didn't exactly phase me in any way.

Overall:

Pros:

• Amazing Naval Combat system
• A few added elements to the game
• Pirate motif

Cons:

• Story wasn't all that great
• Same mechanics/gameplay style as with previous games.  

I really enjoyed this game but if I had no knowledge of the previous games I probably would have enjoyed it more. I still recommend this game to those around me. Hopefully the next creative team will be able to make improvements for a possible Assassin's Creed 5. I give this game a rating within the range of three to four out of five stars. With all due respect though, ancient pirates were pretty cool and had amazing lives roaming the seven seas.