By Jeremy Hannaford (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: November 6, 2013
While Assassin’s Creed III had a disappointing storyline and a weak main character, there was one gleaming element of the game that always brought me back and gave me hope for future installments. That element was the naval battles. From sailing on the open seas to engaging in intense naval combat amid massive storms, the whole ship concept was awesome. Now it turns out that Ubisoft Montreal listened to my praises.
Right off the bat, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag learns from the mistakes of its predecessor by putting the player in the action right off the bat. No hour-long tutorials to weigh down the action – instead they throw the player into an epic battle in a monsoon. Later on, once you acquire your own ship named the Jackdaw, you are free to roam the seas at your leisure.
This sense of freedom has always been present in the other AC games but it has never been so well defined. In the amount of time I have put into this game, I could say that I have only spent 35 per cent of it doing story-related missions. Every time I see another ship on my travels, I feel the need to ram into and plunder it! Even if the ship is far superior to mine, my inner scoundrel needs me to steal its booty. The naval combat is slightly more arcade-ish compared to ACIII. In ACIII, the battles were much more focused, considering they were stand-alone missions, they were intense but small. In ACIV, most of this is exchanged for brutal and aggressive combat. Battles don’t last as long but it doesn’t take away from gameplay, especially when you can board the ship and kill their crew.
Years ago, Disney Interactive and Propaganda Games were working on a highly anticipated Pirates of the Caribbean game. Unfortunately, due to delays and creative differences, the game was cancelled after years of development and resulted in Propaganda’s closure. So besides Sid Meier’s Pirates from last gen consoles, gamers have been unable to fulfill their pirate fantasies on current gen consoles. ACIV finally delivers that fantasy and were it just a pirate game, it would truly be a great game. The one problem holding it back is the fact that it is an Assassins’ Creed game.
While the story missions aren’t as boring or constricting as in ACIII, they do bring back the old unfortunate memories of series hangups. While some lessons were learned, some seem to fall by the wayside as long, dry tailing missions alongside boring eavesdropping slow things down and take away from the onseas action. While the parkour movement system works extremely well amongst the backdrop, I was constantly yearning for the sea.
A shining moment in the story is this entry’s main source of history: Jack Kenway. Driven by his personal desires, he is a refreshing change from entitled characters of the past. He isn’t an assassin, but a pirate looking out for his own interests and it works, especially when you are constantly destroying Spanish and British ships throughout the Caribbean and listening to your crew sing great pirate shanties.
The customization is also an interesting treat. To build your ship, you must collect resources and currency by plundering ships and assassinating targets, from cargo space to ram strength to sail cover. The customization isn’t as deep as in some other games but it helps build the feeling of having your own ship. My Jackdaw sails with red crimson sails with an Aries ram figure at the bow of the ship. It provides visual prowess as I ram every ship I come across before blowing it to hell.
