Assassin's Creed Review Final Part

Introduction

            Welcome back to the fourth and final part of the Assassin’s Creed series review. To end the review off, I’ll be taking a look at the latest of the Assassin’s Creed series releases, and that is Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and in about 2 months’ time, the game to replace Black Flag would be Assassin’s Creed: Unity, which I would talk about for a bit. So without further ado, let’s get on with the final part!

Shiver-me-timbers

            With Connor’s story in ACIII behind Ubisoft, they now have two choices, to either pick up from where they left off in ACIII, thus continuing Connor’s story, or tell a story from a different person’s perspective. They decided to do the latter, which led to the rumors that Ubisoft would be set during the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean seas, and that the game would be called Black Flag. The reveal of the game via trailers and E3 gameplay demos would render these rumors to be true, with depictions of looting of gold (pirate stuff), naval combat, and the boarding of ships.

Fought like the Devil, dressed as a man.

            The new character introduced in this game is called Edward Kenway, father of Haytham Kenway and therefore the grandfather of Connor, both of them being playable characters in ACIII, thus this game acts as a sort of “prequel” to the events of ACIII, despite being a sequel, CONFUSING AIN’T IT.

From left: Haytham, Edward, Connor

            Edward himself is a pirate-turned Assassin who is estranged by his wife, Caroline, and before knowing of the Assassin’s values, he is driven by the greed of gold and finding the biggest treasure of them all and selling it off to the highest bidder, thus securing himself an easy future and proving his wife wrong when she felt the pirate life was unsafe and earns less than a normal wage job, such as a farmer. What happens afterwards when his goals start to intertwine with the goals related to the Assassin and Templar conflict is the player’s filler of an incredible pirate story, filled with infamous pirate characters such as Blackbeard, Mary Read, Stede Bonnet and many others (you probably only heard of the first).

Too much "arrrr" in one picture

A pirate’s change for meeeee!

            Assassin’s Creed III had three different regions. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag has three different regions as well, known as Havana, Kingston and Nassau, plus 50 islands for the player to explore via sailing their own ship across the wide Caribbean Sea, a new mechanic in ACIV, expanding the open-world (now it’s open-sea, ha.) options that the Assassin’s Creed series have been continually doing and improving upon, and allows for a wide variety of options for the player.

            Many gameplay mechanics have been improved in this sequel, with Edward Kenway being able to dual-wield swords, and carry up to four guns (allowing the player to take down four enemies in a row!! *nerd squeal*) on four holsters which the player must craft individually. Speaking of which, crafting is an essential part to upgrading the equipment on Edward himself, where the player must hunt animals for their skins, even whales, to craft different things such as holsters, higher amounts of health, and bigger pouches for bullets, darts and such, to allow for more liberal use in combat.

            Naval combat have also seen a huge overhaul in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The open sea hosts all-new threats such as enemy ships that the player has the choice to take down with their own ship’s weapons, ranging from lightly armed ones to ultra-tanky-ultra-armed-to-the-ultra-teeth-supremely-likely-to-destroy-your-day ones. Of course, they don’t attack on sight unless you sunk too many of them so the open sea is preeeeeeeeeeeeeeetty safe.

Romantic sunset feat. combat with ship

            Ships that the player has incapacitated (when they have a teensy-little health bar left) are stuck in position and are vulnerable to the player boarding them and raiding their supplies. This is also something new in ACIV, where the player must fulfill certain objectives after boarding the ship to claim victory over the ship, objectives such as killing off the crew or blowing up their powder reserves and all that jazz.

Boarding the enemy ship

            The ship’s weapons are also expanded since ACIII, with the addition of mortars to allow players to strike from a distance, chain shots that are shot from near the ship’s bow, the fire barrels that burns ships trying to pursue you from behind and the el-classico side cannons and front ram from ACIII, all of which can be upgraded at a harbormaster (more new stuff!!) on some islands to deal more damage and have more storage. A home away from home is the best sentence to describe this ship.

The ship (aka. Jackdaw) upgrades

            The ship can also be customized with different sails, wheels (likka steering wheel), and figureheads attached to the front of the ship. It’s like the customization options for Edward, but for the ship. (doi)

Gotta make sure your ship is the swaggiest around yo

            Because of so many new gameplay mechanics centering on the ship, many new naval options have been added. These options include shipwrecks, where players can explore the underwater sea for a wreck’s treasure, it also includes coves where the enemies reside in which also contains treasure and some loot, and finally it also includes legendary ships, found on the bottom edges of the maps and can only be taken down by a fully-upgraded ship, lest you be chased around the Caribbean Sea with a sea-monster size ship on your tail, you vermin!

An "awww shiiiiit" moment

Was there… treasured reception?

            Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag received positive reviews upon release, with critics generally praising the open world gameplay, side-quests, graphics and naval combat. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 87.62% and 88/100, the Xbox 360 version 85.74% and 86/100, the Wii U version 87.00% and 86/100, the PlayStation 4 version 85.31% and 83/100, the Xbox One version 81.00% and the PC version 86.67% and 86/100. In November 2013, Hardcore Gamer ranked Black Flag as the 70th greatest game of the seventh generation era.

            Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag has received Game of the Year nominations from media outlets Cheat Code Central, GameSpot, and the Inside Gaming Awards, it won the Spike VGX 2013 award for Best Action Adventure Game, and the GameSpot awards for PS4 Game of the Year and Xbox One Game of the Year. In May 2014, Ubisoft announced that the game had shipped over 11 million copies.

What’s next?

            After the release of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, the Assassin’s Creed storyline could go both ways, either have a new hero within a new setting and a completely new cast of characters telling a new story, or have a sequel which continues the story from Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The end result was two games.

            The game that is scheduled to come out for PC and all current-generation consoles on November 13, 2014, is Assassin’s Creed: Unity, the successor to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Set in the French Revolution in Paris, the story follows a character depicted in trailers as Arno Dorian, in his efforts to expose the true powers behind the revolution.

             The other game that is scheduled for release for last-gen consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS3 on November 13, 2014, as well, is Assassin’s Creed: Rogue. Set in the mid-18^th Century during the Seven Years’ War, the story follows a character known as Shay Cormac, an Assassin-turned Templar. Gameplay is similar to that of Black Flag and this game acts as a filler between the events of Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed: Unity, while acting as a sequel to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

What I think (also a conclusion)

            All in all, the Assassin’s Creed series is one full of rich story, history, and beauty. Ever since the first Assassin’s Creed, the stories of each of the installments have been fantastic as it manages to meld a present-day (albeit futuristic) story with the past, with the past containing the knowledge and intellect of ancestors, who have been involved in pinnacle parts of history such as the American Revolution and the Golden Age of Piracy (ACIII and ACIV), with so many real, iconic characters also intertwining with each of the Assassin’s stories, it is no wonder that this game series has grown to be one of the most successful franchises around to this day.

            With Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Assassin’s Creed: Rogue just around the corner, this game series is far from being stale, with so many innovations and creations now made possible with all the current-gen consoles, the Assassin’s Creed series can only go one direction: forward.

            With that, I conclude my four-part Assassin’s Creed series review, and I would like to say a big thank-you to all my readers across all the part reviews! So, until the next review, farewell!