After “Assassin’s Creed III” concluded “The Desmond Miles Saga,” Ubisoft worked on the next installment of the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise set after the next events of the aforementioned game as well as focusing on The Golden Age Of Piracy” is none other than “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.”
“Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag” was officially released in 2013. (same year Grand Theft Auto V came out) It received positive reviews from critics, fans and gamers alike. Besides good reception, it also sold millions of copies worldwide. Black Flag spawned further installments ranging from “Unity” to the most recent game “Valhalla.”
Netflix is producing a live action television series based on Assassin’s Creed currently in development. As a fan of the series, I wanna share my thoughts on Black Flag before Netflix’s upcoming show streams in the future. Ubisoft’s next game outside Assassin’s Creed is “Far Cry 6.” The upcoming game featuring Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Mandalorian) will be released this October. Ubisoft confirmed the next Assassin’s Creed game is a live-service multiplayer taking cues from “Fortnite.” I just got a bad feeling it’ll end up like “Metal Gear Survive.” Konami got greedy when they booted out Hideo Kojima.
This review contains no SPOILERS. I’ll give some of you a chance to play Black Flag. Is it still playable? Let’s find out shall we?
Rich & Poor Aspects
Rich: Voice Actors all did an excellent job for their respective performances.
Matt Ryan (John Constantine from the Arrowverse) provides the voice of Edward Kenway. He did an excellent job for his voiceover performance.
Graphics are gorgeous to witness from your own eyes. Makes you wanna go on pirate adventure. In the words of Jack Sparrow. “Drink up me hearties yo ho!”
Combat remains visceral yet intense. Armed with swords, guns, your handy dandy hidden blade, throwing knives, axes, poison/hallucinogenic darts and a rope dart tying up your foes.
Naval Combat from the previous game is heavily upgraded. You command your crew shooting harpoons, guns and of course cannons. Traversing with your ship is so fun exploring islands, villages, local towns and jungles. As if Ubisoft made their own version of “Pirates Of The Caribbean.”
Although his character died, Nolan North (my favorite voice actor) reprises his role as Desmond Miles. His presence still plays a significant role.
Brian Tyler (The Fast And The Furious series, The Expendables 1-3) served as a composer.
Taking place two years after Desmond Miles sacrificed himself to save Earth from The 2012 Apocalypse, Abstergo (owned by The Templars) retrieve samples from Desmond’s corpse so they can go further into his genetic memories. This time they found Edward Kenway. Connor’s grandfather and Haytham’s father. The Templars use a random employee as a replacement for Desmond. They’re searching for lost structure hidden from our world.
Previous characters including Shaun Hastings & Rebecca Crane factor in The Present Day. They’re the only people I care besides Edward.
Seeking a golden opportunity for currency, Edward poses as a Templar he killed in the beginning. Throughout the main story, he’s caught in the never ending battle between The Assassins & The Templars. He also uncovers dirty secrets from the latter organization.
Character Development involving Edward. As the game progresses, he accepts full responsibility as an assassin. Meaning he becomes mature. His troubled backstory fleshes him out.
Notorious pirates such as Blackbeard play prominent roles.
It took me weeks to beat the main missions. If you wanna fully synchronize a main mission accurately, good luck.
The World map is morbidly massive in a positive way. Thankfully, fast travel helps you go from Point A to Point B.
Side Quests contain a variety of things to do like accepting contracts by land or sea, climb to the top of a viewpoint revealing a portion of the map, hunting dangerous creatures, collecting shanties, open treasure chests, Animus fragments, collecting Mayan stones will unlock a new set of armor among many other things that’ll keep you busy worth 100+ hours of your spare time.
Crafting System from Assassin’s Creed III is retained. As you hunt for resources, you can use them to make an outfit, upgrade your ship and reload your ammo. Animals marked as legendary are award worthy. Selling resources to upgrade your local town located in Great Inagua. This was further expanded in Valhalla.
Mini-Games in The Present Day are ok.
If you own DLC titled, “Freedom Cry,” it focuses on Edward’s quartermaster Adewale.
Poor: The unnamed employee is never given a fully detailed background, identity, doesn’t say a word nor has a personality like Desmond. For the first time in the series, I never cared about The Present Day. That’s a huge blow. I’m relieved Ubisoft learned their lesson by including Layla Hassan in Origins, Odyssey & Valhalla. What’s the point of having an unnamed random character in an ongoing conflict between The Assassins & The Templars? Kevin Malone from “The Office” should’ve been the unnamed employee. He has more personality despite he’s a human Patrick Star.
The Final Verdict: A-
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is still playable for a game that came out in 2013. If Ubisoft created a three dimensional character in The Present Day, I would’ve given it my highest grade an A, FOR APEX. Some of the positive stuff I’ve listed specific reasons why you should definitely play Black Flag. As a fan of Assassin’s Creed, I highly recommend this game. I’m setting my hype level low for Netflix’s upcoming live action adaptation. The 2016 movie with Michael Fassbender was a total letdown.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 