Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Review

Have you ever wanted to sail the seven seas as a fearsome pirate? Are you looking for one of the greatest experiences the Assassin's Creed series has to offer? If you are, then look no further, Assassin's Creed 4 is hands down the best pirate video game ever made. This is the game that convinced me to buy my PS4. This game offers some of the most fun gameplay you could find on the original Playstation 4 launch titles.

Gameplay

Assassin's Creed 4 makes the gameplay extremely fun, not too challenging and also makes you look an awesome pirate-ninja mix. You can stealthily eliminate a duo of enemies in a dark alleyway and then smoothly transition into a heated sword fight in the center of a bustling street as the beautiful scenery becomes your weapon. You can throw your opponents into walls, kick them into the briny depths and tackle them off the shingled roof of cantina. The freerunning and parkour elements of this game make it an absolute joy to glide across the rooftops of Kingston or climb along the side of Spanish Man o' War. However the freerunning sometimes abruptly stops or you go in the complete wrong direction. Otherwise the freerunning is solid. The sword combat is very fun but lacks a lot of challenge once you master the counter system and all of enemy types. The upgrades do feel like they add more depth and assistance during combat. Finally the ship combat, after all what self-respecting swashbuckling adventure wouldn't have ship combat. I loved the sensation of ramming my tiny vessel into larger boats as the risky maneuver ended the fight. The thundering boom as cannons tear through the hull of the enemy ship, the sound of swords clashing as swung a long rope to board the enemies boat. This game has the gameplay perfected and fun for the most part.

Graphics, Design and Sound

The graphics are pleasant although there are some muddy textures and occasionally guards character models will not load properly and they will look very strange. The design of the world is phenomenal with awesome sea forts to be taken, plantations to plundered and cities to explore.The lush jungles and bustling cities allow for a very diverse range of settings and can spice up the gameplay quite a bit. Last but not least, the sound. The sound design for this is game great for the most part. The thunder of cannons and clashing of blades mix well with sounds of thunderstorms and crashing waves. However occasionally a bug will occur where during a finishing animation, no sound will be played. This occurs every now and then and breaks the immersion of the game, but is frequent enough to be annoying.

Story

The story follows the years of Edward Kenway's adventures as a pirate. The story is fairly engaging and offers a fun pirate adventure but it lacks a lot of content related specifically to the main storyline of Assassin's Creed and instead focuses mostly on the pirate aspects until the game's final missions. That said the story is still enjoyable and offers a lot of fun missions to complete. One other gripe is the tailing missions. These missions require you to annoyingly tail a target within a certain distance. These missions are not very fun and can detract from the enjoyment of the game.

Is this game right for you?

I recommend this game to casual and hardcore gamers alike, not only is it a good game, it is also a good starting point for people who want to start playing the Assassin's Creed series.

Overall

Assassin's Creed 4 is a great game that is held back by a few problems such as bugs, and a lack of Assassin's Creed focused story content. Otherwise this game offers an excellent pirate adventure.