Well here's a surprise huh? Nah, if you guys actually knew me you would know I've been playing this game for hours on end. Oh wait I need to mention what game it is don't I? Well that game would be Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag....bit of a mouthful huh? Let's get onto my thoughts/review of the game and if you should go out and get it yourself.
Story
You are Edward Kenway, a man hungry for enough gold to set him up for the rest of his life. In his first 2 years of being a pirate (after telling his wife he was going to be a privateer and she ends up leaving him) he ends up shipwrecked with an Assassin named Duncan Walpole. Edward attempts to gain some money out of him and long story short kills the assassin and tries to finish Duncan's delivery and grab the gold that's promised. Without spoiling anything, things don't go well and Edward ends up stealing a ship with his new quartermaster Adewale and sets out to find the treasure called the Observatory, whose location is known only by a man called the Sage. With the help of his crew, he sets sail on his ship, the Jackdaw and many other famous pirates, such as Captain James Kidd, Ben Hornigold, and Blackbeard himself to live the free life of pirates. The Story is actually pretty cool to me, then again I always did like pirates, and has some pretty memorable moments. If you know the Assassin's Creed series though, you know of the modern day sections that a lot of people dislike, excluding me. This time around you are an employee of Abstergo looking for some entertainment value in the life of the pirate Edward Kenway. The people in charge though (and I mean way at the top) appear to have other goals as you are told to focus on the observatory Edward speaks of finding. You are also tasked by the IT guy to hack computers and animuses and deliver them to a carrier named Rebecca who seems to be working with a guy called Sean....probably nothing important. You can either spend just a couple of hours in modern times or delve deep into the plot of Templars and Assassins with all the hacking. All in all I really enjoyed the story of this game. (Especially after having to deal with Connor in the last game.....Edward is definitely better, trust me on that.)
Graphics and Soundtrack
The graphics, even on just my 360, are pretty dang good. I have had no texture pop ins or any graphical glitches in the game (actually only have one maybe one or two glitches the entire time I've played it and that's at least 40 hours of gameplay right there) The world is absolutely beautiful (and huge!). There is so much to explore with each island as you clear them of treasure and collectables. Each island is also rich with wildlife, the same as just sailing on the sea. I felt like I was living the life of an adventuring pirate exploring the islands and the sea, especially with the shanties you could collect and your crew would sing when you are sailing around the world. That's a pretty cool feature right there. The soundtrack itself, I think, is very fitting for the theme and done very well. I actually really enjoy the soundtrack and I'll put up a link to it for you guys to check it out for yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRybjyOFNc
Gameplay
This is probably the most important part of any game next to story. (For me they are actually about equally as important.) I'm gonna start with the combat. Now if you have played Assassin's Creed 3, the combat is basically the same with a much better interface for selecting weapons and such. Now if you haven't played previous games, Ubisoft was basically going for the free flow combat of the Arkham games. The combat works most of the tie but can be frustrating as Edward likes to lock onto a different guy than you wanted to kill but it's still pretty fun in this game. The stealth aspect is about the same as the other Assassin's Creed games and is still pretty fun to me. The naval combat and the exploration are where this game really accelerates at. The naval combat is much more in depth than in AC 3 with a lot more to upgrade such as the ram, how many cannons you have, how much heavy shot and mortar shot you have... there's so much into just that. With the vast world, there is so much that you can explore and that's actually where I spent most of my time in the game. Needless to say at this point this game is actually really fun.
Final Verdict
9/10 Great Game
Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag is one of the most fun AC games since Brotherhood. I would have given this game a perfect score were it not for some of those glitches I have encounter we trying to run up a rock and how fidgety the combat can be. Other than that I highly recommend that you pick up this game, especially if you are a fan of pirates or Assassin's Creed. Hope you guys enjoyed and I will see you guys next time. Any comments or questions just go on and leave them below.
Got it memorized?
Terry
Gaming Nerd
Story
You are Edward Kenway, a man hungry for enough gold to set him up for the rest of his life. In his first 2 years of being a pirate (after telling his wife he was going to be a privateer and she ends up leaving him) he ends up shipwrecked with an Assassin named Duncan Walpole. Edward attempts to gain some money out of him and long story short kills the assassin and tries to finish Duncan's delivery and grab the gold that's promised. Without spoiling anything, things don't go well and Edward ends up stealing a ship with his new quartermaster Adewale and sets out to find the treasure called the Observatory, whose location is known only by a man called the Sage. With the help of his crew, he sets sail on his ship, the Jackdaw and many other famous pirates, such as Captain James Kidd, Ben Hornigold, and Blackbeard himself to live the free life of pirates. The Story is actually pretty cool to me, then again I always did like pirates, and has some pretty memorable moments. If you know the Assassin's Creed series though, you know of the modern day sections that a lot of people dislike, excluding me. This time around you are an employee of Abstergo looking for some entertainment value in the life of the pirate Edward Kenway. The people in charge though (and I mean way at the top) appear to have other goals as you are told to focus on the observatory Edward speaks of finding. You are also tasked by the IT guy to hack computers and animuses and deliver them to a carrier named Rebecca who seems to be working with a guy called Sean....probably nothing important. You can either spend just a couple of hours in modern times or delve deep into the plot of Templars and Assassins with all the hacking. All in all I really enjoyed the story of this game. (Especially after having to deal with Connor in the last game.....Edward is definitely better, trust me on that.)
Graphics and Soundtrack
The graphics, even on just my 360, are pretty dang good. I have had no texture pop ins or any graphical glitches in the game (actually only have one maybe one or two glitches the entire time I've played it and that's at least 40 hours of gameplay right there) The world is absolutely beautiful (and huge!). There is so much to explore with each island as you clear them of treasure and collectables. Each island is also rich with wildlife, the same as just sailing on the sea. I felt like I was living the life of an adventuring pirate exploring the islands and the sea, especially with the shanties you could collect and your crew would sing when you are sailing around the world. That's a pretty cool feature right there. The soundtrack itself, I think, is very fitting for the theme and done very well. I actually really enjoy the soundtrack and I'll put up a link to it for you guys to check it out for yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRybjyOFNc
Gameplay
This is probably the most important part of any game next to story. (For me they are actually about equally as important.) I'm gonna start with the combat. Now if you have played Assassin's Creed 3, the combat is basically the same with a much better interface for selecting weapons and such. Now if you haven't played previous games, Ubisoft was basically going for the free flow combat of the Arkham games. The combat works most of the tie but can be frustrating as Edward likes to lock onto a different guy than you wanted to kill but it's still pretty fun in this game. The stealth aspect is about the same as the other Assassin's Creed games and is still pretty fun to me. The naval combat and the exploration are where this game really accelerates at. The naval combat is much more in depth than in AC 3 with a lot more to upgrade such as the ram, how many cannons you have, how much heavy shot and mortar shot you have... there's so much into just that. With the vast world, there is so much that you can explore and that's actually where I spent most of my time in the game. Needless to say at this point this game is actually really fun.
Final Verdict
9/10 Great Game
Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag is one of the most fun AC games since Brotherhood. I would have given this game a perfect score were it not for some of those glitches I have encounter we trying to run up a rock and how fidgety the combat can be. Other than that I highly recommend that you pick up this game, especially if you are a fan of pirates or Assassin's Creed. Hope you guys enjoyed and I will see you guys next time. Any comments or questions just go on and leave them below.
Got it memorized?
Terry
Gaming Nerd