Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Background Information
Creation: It is rather amazing to see Ubisoft so committed in producing an Assassin's Creed game nearly every year. With the conclusion of Desmond's arc and the side-step with Assassin's Creed: Liberation, it would be hard-pressed to know in what direction they would continue the series. Released November 19th 2013, the developers of 8 different companies that helped produce Far Cry 3 spent roughly 2 years on Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag by taking the renown Naval missions from Assassin's Creed III and presenting them front and center. Since only 60% of the area you explore is land, a large chunk of the game plays out in ship warfare (not boats). Your pirate adventure will take you across the seas of the Caribbeans and off the Florida Keys to Bahamas, Cuba, and Jamaica through the eyes of Edward James Kenway (1693 – 1735). You might have also noticed the immediate shift in music. They switched their composer from Lorne Balfe to Brian Tyler (both brilliant in their own right). Lead content manager Carsten Myhill stated that the reason why they addressed the title of the game the way they did is because the whole setting and tone of the game is completely different than any of the other ones in the series. In this case, I agree. The game was given out for free during Ubisoft's 10-year anniversary back in December 2017.
Research: As you play the game, you get a feel that the teams really did their research on the era. Most of the history comes from A General History of the Pyrates (1724) and The Republic of Pirates (2008), even capitalizing each noun as a homage to the book. Their more historical take won't include any generated myths of parrots, Krakens, or "walking the plank" that came from Pirates of the Caribbean. Most of the characters you meet, that appear as little figurines on your virtual desk, are taken straight out of the history books. Some of the details Ubisoft included in the game are pretty fascinating to read about. I adored their portrayal of Blackbeard explaining how he "stopped counting after 40" cannons, his ambition to find some medicine for those ill in Nassau, and how he attached slowly-burning fuses under his hat to intimidate his foes.
Editions: It wouldn't be a gaming company unless they felt it necessary to sell so many different versions of the game. Seemed like every one of them had some sort of "exclusive" content inside the game. Mystery Island, Black Island, and Sacrifice Island were three such added locations that contained three unlockable content (ULC) chests in each area (more details below). Most of these editions included the new figurine, especially in the most expensive Black Chest Edition. Sadly, the All-In-One Jackdaw Edition was only released in the United Kingdom on March 28 (roughly 4 months after the initial release of the game).
Additional Content
Aveline de Grandpré memories: Well this sort of came out of nowhere. Why would they introduce a free DLC outside the main game at the same time as its release date and make it PlayStation exclusive? Well, I guess the content did make it over to the PC eventually. There isn't really much to it. The whole thing takes you around an hour to finish a 3-part mission without any side objectives, collectables, or auxiliary weapons. At least you get to see your favorite assassin from Assassin's Creed: Liberation again. For what it's worth, it is a beautifully rendered chase sequence.
Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry is a certain DLC that was added to the game a month later on December 17, 2013. It is rather strange to talk about since it does not include Edward from the main game. Instead, you get his quartermaster Adéwalé about 15 years into the future. Simply watching the trailer gives you an idea how personal this becomes when the lives of slaves are on the line. The game is bare-bones to the main game, covering about 25% worth of content. The game will run you around 5 hours. You trade your sword for a meatier machete, your pistol for a wide-fire blunderbuss, and the use of the new fireworks to distract guards. Your main goal is to free slaves in about 15 different ways. Just don't worry too much about freeing 500 of them as your "special reward" is 4000 Abstergo Credits for Multiplayer.
There isn't much reward to exploring the locations. Opening Treasure Chests is futile as your only contribution goes to buying slaves off or resupplying your ammunition. Even that becomes free after gaining 70 Freedom Fighters. There are no outfits, no merchandise to buy, no sea shanties, or a house to build. Upgrading your vessel still requires supplies off of ships. There are a few "secrets" on various islands that will provide you with better equipment. There are new music, different sound effects, and singing on the plantations. Playing through all 9 memories are worth it. Memory 7 and Memory 8 are excruciating well-made. In fact, it didn't take Ubisoft too long to realize that it might have been more beneficial to sell it as a stand-alone, without requiring the main game, on February 25, 2014 for $15 on Steam. Though, there are reports of some weird issues if you decide to go that route.
Assassin's Creed: Pirates was a mobile game that attempted to emulate the functions of the main game. It came out a month after Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag in December 5, 2013. The 3D resolution was something to be desired and the sliding art animation of people talking didn't help matters. There were several updates the following two years until it was finally removed from the app store. You can still play a demo of it online if you want to see what it was like.
Assassin's Creed: Awakening was actually a very ambitious project to tell the events of the campaign into a comic format. It would take the Japan artist between August 2013 and July 2014 to produce all 12 chapters. It took way longer - between November 2016 and August 2017 - for Titan Comics to replicate the feat in English.
Online Woes
Assassin's Creed: Initiates was Ubisoft's attempt at revitalizing Project: Legacy in a more engaging format. You could go online and become a recruit, decipher encrypted messages, and learn more about what was going on behind-the-scenes of the game. You could access The Desmond Files summarizing events in the previous games, answer questions in the Data Recovery Process, and review pictures and videos within the Surveillance category. Eventually you were given the option to unlock the Split-blood sails, Black-skull sails, and Maid of Amsterdam sea shanty, among a few other things. They did their best to try and keep the website going, constantly modifying and updating its features for the next few years. However, they permanantly retired the site December 5, 2015.
Kenway Fleet: Replacing the Assassin's Guild mini-game is a new version where you send vessels on errands. The problem? It's online only. Not only do you have to have access to the Internet, but you need access to Ubisoft's servers as well. So instead of being introduced to a new feature after Sequence 4, you might well be given a small notice instead and booted back to the main game. At least you can still "capture" ships from the game even though you can't do anything with them. They decided to include a sort of Facebook buddy system where your Uplay friends can assist your fleet. Their servers also keep track of their status. You could use a program outside the game to control your fleet. However The Black Flag Companion App doesn't work too well nowadays, despite some known workarounds. There was even a problem with people having too many friends to access the content.
Community Events: Ubisoft had to audacity to try and sell $10 Uplay Passports to gain access to certain features outside its initial activation. It took them in a matter of a day to backtrack this offer. The content isn't necessary to finish the game, but it certainly helps in getting some much-needed resources. You can search for white whales for a special crafted outfit (costs 60,000R total offline), obtain special social chests, and hunt down royal convoys carrying 10,000 reals on board (compared to 4,000R on standard convoys). All of these also contribute to the 100% Animus Challenges.
Statistics: For some silly reason, they decided to wrap all of your statistics online. I guess they thought it was important to compare your results with your friends (if you had any)? Instead of allowing you to see how long you played the game when loading your save file, you are greeted with the time you last logged on. All the information you would normally see in some sort of database or statistics sub-menu is now tied to your leaderboard activity. Not very good when you can't get online. I guess it also doesn't matter if your mission rating matters anymore either. At least those you can still check inside the database. The only time I rated anything 5 stars was The Treasure Fleet in Sequence 2 not only since it was based on true events but walking smoothly across the sails of multiple ships during a storm was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Considering I spent twice as long traveling and enjoyed collecting 90% of everything, the average time of 40 hours feels about right to me (if not 50).
Multiplayer: They really like to include everything from the previous games, don't they? No, there is no ship-to-ship mode. Though, they do allow you to customize your character and use Game Lab to tweak the settings of a match. There are plenty of portraits and emblems you can achieve through the Abstergo challenges from the main campaign. That's probably the only incentive to do the challenges other than the various Animus "cheats" that can make your venture more interesting (despite disabling your ability to save the game). Blackbeard's Wrath and Guild of Rogues were exclusively designed to add more Animus characters and features to the multiplayer and still cost $2.99 each to buy for whatever platform you use! And if you were wondering how to get the figurines to fill the void of those 5 empty spots by your desk, you'll have to play the corresponding character in 20 multiplayer sessions.
Ubisoft Club: As usual, you can use your earned points to buy items from Uplay's Ubisoft Club. For Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag you can earn Edward the Legend Outfit, Animi Avatar Lady Black, Blades of Toledo, and a tri-fold "Elite" package for your vessel.
Side Missions
Contracts: There are three different kinds of contracts you can fulfill. In various locations, you can get a total of 30 Assassin's Contracts that award you 1000R, sometimes 500R bonus if you can finish the job without being spotted. Completing half will net you the Stealth Suit. There are 15 Naval Contracts that task you a number of things that require your ship out at sea once you claim each of the forts. Completing all with give you a cool navy color sail (get it, because its a ship?). Both these two can be mind-numbing to do when they closely follow a basic template formula. The third consists of 5 Templar Contracts. They are generally story-driven, follow closely to a specific assassin character, and carry through a series of individual missions. These are much more rewarding, especially when completing all of them give you the Templar armor (resists attacks).
Whaling: I must protest about this event. No, I'm not going to be like those from PETA. Ubisoft's senior PR manager, Stone Chin, already awesomely stated, "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is a work of fiction that depicts the real events during the golden era of pirates. We do not condone illegal whaling, just as we don't condone a pirate lifestyle of poor hygiene, plundering, hijacking ships and over-the-legal-limit drunken debauchery." If I couldn't handle the amount of blood, I could have always turned it off. The amount of sailor talk almost exceeded my tolerance enough to turn that off as well. No, there was something wrong with the volume. I always had to turn down my sound about 50% whenever I started a whaling event. I'm not exactly sure why. If I didn't need them for the upgrades & outfits, I probably would have skipped them entirely.
Underwater: I'm not going to go into detail of whether pirates used a diving bell or not. What should have been a relaxing dip into the underwater depths turned into a rigid nightmare filled with terrible things. What is with these underwater nightmares? Sharks that can come nibble at your toes and chomp your face off? Eels that scare the crap out of you when they pop out of nowhere like the ones from Mario. Sea urchins that give ones with Aichmophobia the jitters. Let's just hope you didn't spot those tentacles dangling out of the window of that one ship. One thing for sure, I don't have to worry about a megalodon shark like from Sea of Thieves.
Legendary Ships: I'm going to come out and say that the legendary ships are awesome. They do require some heavy-duty upgrades to the Jackdaw, but they are most definitely worth doing for the experience alone (as well as the 20,000R). You are generally out-maneuvered, out-gunned, and out of your element. Their tactics involve ramming you, hiding inside the fog, and relying on their impenetrable armor. However, the one in the northeast corner is actually two: HMS Fearless And Royal Sovereign. These buggers like to slice through you on both sides. If you try to distance yourself, they will find a way to launch some cannons from 400m away. It will take everything you have just to survive!
Collectibles
Modern Day: There are two things you can do while fiddling around as yourself in the company offices. The less rewarding option is to collect 20 Sticky Notes, designed as glowing blue QR codes. They are the ranting of a conspiracy theory that only offers you the phrase "Manifesto of the instruments of the first will" which makes no sense to me whatsoever. The second more interesting option is to hack all 33 Computers. The content from the computers definitely improves the game. You'll hear videos of how they viewed all the characters, watched over Desmond's life, the beginnings of the Animus project, and well-done promotional content. I noticed one unlocked something from Project: Legacy and another copied the entire third chapter of The Black Flag Novel. My favorites are Devils of the Caribbean and Age of Cutthroats. Though I guess Ubisoft's original trailers of risque Blackbeard, "Tattoo" Spot, and their cinematic E3 preview were good too.
Sea Shanties: Now according to history, the word "shanty" wasn't formed until the mid-19th century when distinguishing a particular kind of work before the American Civil War. However I must emphasize that all 35 songs are real. The team actually collected 70 songs all throughout history but decided to compile only half that much for the game. They hired a team of 4 professional singers and explicitly told them to sing badly to make them "official" songs. Ouimet stated, "I swear to you, it didn't sound real until we had the bad singers and the drunks in the tracks." You can actually listen to all the songs here and add some background ambience from the Jackdaw for good measure. As mentioned earlier, Maid of Amsterdam is the only one that has to be unlocked outside the main campaign. Lowlands Away and Drunken Soldier are my favorites. I am quite thrilled they made Kotaku's top 5. If you chose to collect anything in this game, make sure it is these sheets of music. They make traveling across the open ocean so enjoyable. And if you don't, you can always command the crew to change to a different song or quit singing all together.
Cosmetics: Things get pretty complicated when trying to explain where to get all of the outfits, weapons, and Jackdaw appearances. Much can be gotten through any of the exclusive packs - Death Vessel Pack, Kraken Pack, Crusader & Florentine Pack, Aveline DLC, Illustrious Pirates Pack, Black Island, Mystery Island, and Sacrifice Island. For starters, there are a total of 26 Outfits - 7 different dyed outfits from the store, 4 that have passive abilities, 3 unlocked online, 3 awarded if you played the previous games, 3 awarded from exclusive mission packs, 1 from Uplay, and 1 from even an action figure. For the Jackdaw, there are 20 Figureheads, 15 Wheels, and 23 Sails - 3 Online, 1 Uplay, 1 from each of the content packs (except Sacrifice Island), 1 from (I'm not kidding here) buying a razor blade, and the rest are from the general store or unlocked through various achievements. Guns and swords are obtained through any of the packs above except for the Dual Cleavers that come from buying Dr. Pepper. You can visit Ubisoft website for more information.
Decorations: Inside the general store is a bunch of old relics you can buy for roughly 1000R each. I had no idea what they were for until I found myself inside my own pirate cove. Inside your mansion, where you can chase after the ladies, there is a room with a giant wall filled with empty cupboards. These little trinkets fill those holes. There are various upgrades that you can frivolously purchase for you Hideout. You can interact with your ship models, but you can't rotate or choose which ones to display on the table. These things aren't really necessary to purchase, especially if you are scrapped for cash.
Wishful Distractions: There are a total of 22 Treasure Maps that are quite entertaining to try and find. Each one rewards a nice sum of 4000R or an Elite Upgrade to the Jackdaw. Collecting all 200 Animus Fragments is simply one challenge required to unlock Shiver Me Timbers (turns enemy crew into raving rabbids) and Deceased Crew Cheat (turns your crew into skeletons). 16 Mayan Stones unlocks the Mayan Outfit (deflects bullets). 20 Manuscripts are basically a collaboration of old important documents that somehow relate to how some viewed the world. Very much like the Sticky Notes, Letters in 20 Bottles is a list of very excruciating hard-to-read personal opinion pieces from that era.
The Good
Gameplay: You still with me? As you can tell, the game has a ton of stuff to choose from. Since there are a total of 50 locations, it is entirely possible to switch up your outfits, weapons, and Jackdaw appearances after visiting every major city or every 3 minor locations. The game does a fairly decent job at making traveling fun. Between the entire atmosphere of sailing your own vessel and running into a new location by the time they finish singing a song, you'll actually start to enjoy a "pirates" game instead of an "Assassin's Creed" game. There are plenty of nice references to the other games and a well-rounded perspective to the Animus project in general. Nearly all points, locations, and sync towers now have a fast travel option attached. Completed areas will turn yellow when all items are collected. Selecting an item from the menu will show you the exact distance and geometry to your current position. I did not see a case where I had to re-loot an item because of a failed mission. The weapon wheel has been improved to tie exclusively to the directional pad. Like typing on a keyboard, more commonly used options were immediately placed with one press of the pad while others required more. However, I did wish they would have still allowed me to pause the game while switching my weapons. Accepting missions will automatically show your target and allow you to mark it on the map.
Naval Combat: On the naval side of things, they hastened the rate of fire. You no longer have to try and aim the swivel gun or slog through aiming the cannons. Ships on patrol don't spot you right away and you can use your spyglass to choose your next target. Like Star Trek Online's space ships, you have different options depending on which direction you are facing. You are also given the option to try and board an enemy vessel for 100% of the resources or immediately sink it to loot 50%. Sailing is smooth most of the time (few hiccups near forts or when making sharp turns while stationary). Claimed forts will continue to attack enemy targets as they sail by even if you are roaming around inside of one. I was quite surprised at the ability to hop onto burning ships and be given less than a minute to loot their cargo before it sinks into Davy Jones Locker. Forts generally mix up the combat when raiding enemy vessels get boring. I am also glad that you can automatically dock and board while holding down the 'B' button. Although realistically enemy ships would still continue firing while you are boarding another vessel, I am happy the developers forced them to standby.
Ground Combat: Notoriety has been reverted back to the original one-tier alert status. You no longer have to worry about the number of enemies you've killed and find ways to reduce your popularity. The game sort of promotes this behavior when there are less objectives to hide in bushes and a longer wait period for guards to stop looking for you. Eagle Vision has been drastically improved. Being able to target ten guards and keep them brightly highlighted in a way you can still see their positioning as they move behind walls makes it so much better to keep track. This works up to 35 meters away! To counteract its effectiveness, the one drawback is you cannot use Eagle Vision while running. Instead of waiting a minute for a poison dart to kill the target, they have made it more challenging with the new sleep dart. Berserk darts also seem to pull guards from farther away and keep them better distracted than ever before. I personally like how there is red behind the inventory number when it gets low. Breaking enemy defenses is much easier to see when you effectively reposition yourself around the target instead of simply staggering them. Targets will now have a key word over their head like kill, loot, follow, and sail. Whistling in bushes is also a very effective technique. Not only is it easier to loot bodies inside a bush but you can hold down the 'B' button and "run over" a body to loot. The interface will also tell you if they have spare ammunition you need when you get close.
The Neutral
Real Life: The entire section with Abstergo Industries was a little too "meta" for my tastes. A part of me kept thinking of what the real Ubisoft building looked like. But that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy walking around inside such a self-glorified building. I instantly recognized Shaun and was surprised to see Rebecca still stealing data from the company. It's too bad they didn't do more with the video surveillance sections. I would have liked to see someone picking their nose or an employee tripping over their feet. Instead there's only a couple of playbacks where they talk about hunting down white whales or how tight the security gets. A playback of the CEO "secret meetings" that you couldn't hear outside their office would have been wonderful.
Too Busy to Pay Attention: One of these days I'll be able to pay attention to an eavesdrop conversation without worrying about my surroundings. A lot of people hate these missions but all I want is for them to maybe increase the volume a little bit. They are all pretty interesting. My favorite is when a couple of pirates discuss how strange the word "smuggler" is. I also really didn't like the fact that they punish you for continuing to chase your scared victim all the way through the gauntlet. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood simply forced you to fight a room full of people. At least Sequence 6 was awesome regardless of the fact.
Disappointment: There were a few things that I wished they included in the game. A part of me wanted to chat with the crew like in Assassin's Creed III. Another part of me wanted to find a giant cove where I could dock my ship inside the hollow stone exterior. I also was kind of sad that there weren't more things to interact with. Silly me tried interacting with the bathroom sinks. Being able to decorate inside your captain's quarters wouldn't have been so bad. I also wished the figureheads of the ships were about four times bigger; you barely notice them out at sea to begin with. I guess spending 5R on a swig of beer and becoming drunk is good enough as anything. I'm also happy that they limited the number of missions without going overboard or making them endless.
The Bad
Technical Issues: The number of issues I have with Assassin's Creed games just keep building up as time goes on. Unfortunately the poor ol' game just doesn't take kindly to modern computer systems. I had to apply various fixes - compatibility to Windows 7, turning off PhysX, and turning off vsync - all helped reduce the stuttering. Although I didn't have to adjust my controller this time around, I did have to change the resolution.
Locks: I have a huge distaste when I stumble across something that I can't interact with until a set time. The number of times I had to wait to do a specific sequence before the game allowed me to progress is way too high! I actually stumbled across your first fort before the game presented me with the tutorial in Sequence 5. I had to wait until Sequence 6 before I could purchase a Diving Bell for the underwater locations. I call this "Hull-Gating" as your prowess is strictly determined on looting more wood and metal from ships (sugar and rum can only be sold). The only reason I waited was because I was given a notice to "upgrade the Jackdaw before attempting this mission." There were multiple times I received a buried treasure map to a spot on the map that didn't exist yet.
Bugs: Very early on in Sequence 3, I ran into a bug during the mission of A Single Madman. I made it perfectly to the ship, ready to kill my target, when I realized he wasn't there. The game never fulfilled the check of leaving the forest. I was so mad in reloading my last checkpoint that I no longer cared about the optional objectives. This sort of rage quit happened quite a bit. A few times my ship spawned under the water. There were numerous times I didn't properly connect with a nearby climb point. I think every tower had an issue with me getting to the eagle's nest. Half of the cutscenes had some crazy nonsense happening in the background. I watched one man walk around in circles and another one randomly run into crowds like a mad man. Objects, bodies, and sometimes people would spontaneously fly in the air. I noticed one time Edward animated to pull a hood over his head when the outfit I was wearing had no hood.
Menus: Every time I wanted to praise the developers for adding options for the menus, I had to step back and wonder how it could have gone so wrong. First, I expected moving the analog stick would have allowed me to rotate these 3D Models in the interface. I had hoped there would be information on all the ships, or at least more in the database overall. I was disappointed when I couldn't choose what model ships could be placed in my mansion or on the tables. Although you can view your crafting and upgrade windows, the game wouldn't let you perform such actions unless you were in a designated area. This is useful, but ultimately confusing. You can sort your list of items through available and alphabetically, but you can't categorize them? Split up the figureheads, sails, and wheels into three lists. Why not add just the items you have left to craft or buy instead of adding the whole list? Why is it that the item I have equipped is still grayed out and represented with a tiny arrow? Are the ones that are still yellow the ones I own or the ones I still have to buy? And what is the deal with only being able to craft one consumable item at a time? Honestly, I felt like the menus were more helpful for those with a keyboard & mouse setup than a gamepad.
Review
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is best known for showing off a good game filled with content that isn't based around being an assassin. Not only does the story help you understand the dilemma of the pirates based on real events in the early 18th century, but it does a wonderful job recreating a beautiful experience of sailing your own vessel across more than enough locations around the Caribbean Sea. Despite its minor flaws of keeping you busy collecting various trinkets and technical hiccups, you will want to see the game to the end. If you are a fan of Jack Sparrow, liked Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, desire chasing after pirate booty, or exploring the open sea, you will most definitely want to pick this game up.
7-3-2020