Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, I should have known as not to expect much from it in terms of quality, as it is just another rehash of the same game as before, but in another setting; a boring, dull Pirate setting now. I bought it for my brother, as we both had the new PS4, and it was a good thing I bought it for him for his Christmas, as I would have felt robbed again by Ubisoft had I bought this for myself only.
This new setting, on the open seas as a Pirate sounded appealing had it been darker, far more open-world than the previous instalments, with a darker theme. But that was missing, and so was the true feel I was expecting with this Pirate theme. The opening interested me, as a Pirate who kills an Assassin, and steals his uniform and equipment and masquerades as a Assassin while still being a Pirate. This interesting plot, is replaced with your infiltrating the Templer's, as the Assassin you killed was a turncoat, and had betrayed the Assassin's Order. Boring and dull took over very quickly, and the whole idea of it being that you are a Pirate was gone as quickly as it had surfaced.
Graphically Black Flag looks good, but it's not a surprise since I have the PS4 version, with smoother and crisper visuals and animations, than the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. I did like the water effects, that the PS4 was boasting about, and the water visuals look really realistic.
In terms of audio, Black Flag boasts a very Pirate theme with it's soundtracks, and shanties when exploring towns and the open waters with your ship and crew. At times however the sound effects were out of sync by a second or less, when fighting enemies and when running, the effects were late and didn't transcend to what you're seeing on the screen, and it can become very annoying when you're trying to get fully immersed into the game.
The side-missions to the towns that you visit have not changed much since it's previous instalments; from robbing couriers around the towns, discovering chests, and carrying out assassination assignments. This can give you some relief from the main mission, but it's too similar to the older games and their side-missions, even with the pirate theme and setting.
The Good:
- Pirate theme and setting, but it does not last before being replaced with a boring, dull unoriginal twist that spoils the game.
- Music and soundtrack are very epic, in terms of it's Pirate theme.
- Good, realistic water effects as the PS4 has boasted of it's console power.
The Bad:
- Pirate theme and setting are very quickly replaced with a dull, and uninspiring story involving a rogue Assassin, and the Templers once again.
- Side-missions have not changed in any way, since the older games in the series from the simplistic assassination missions to robbing couriers just like in the other games.
- Audio and sound effects are out of sync regularly, when in battles strikes and blows by sword do not relate to what you're doing on the screen for almost a second, and it becomes annoying as it interrupts the flow of the game.
- There is nothing new, or inventive to this instalment; it's as boring, dull and unoriginal as ever when I expected far more from it.
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is certainly not worth in my opinion it's £50+ price tag on any of the consoles, Ubisoft should be ashamed of pumping out a stale copy of Assassin's Creed 4 with some Pirate themes and setting to it, it's not worth what they have charged, just to have a sea-setting to it. I am glad I bough this for my brother, and not just for me or I would have felt robbed once more by the franchise; at least he somehow can enjoy it.