I have a lot more to say about Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag than I thought I would. It captured my attention in a way that no other Assassin’s Creed title has. I beat it over the course of a few days, playing it for up to seven hours straight. There were still too many tailing missions, but way less than previous entries. And the ones that were there, weren’t all terrible. It seems Ubi learned a bit about how to design an area to make tailing less of an exercise in frustration.
It might say a lot about your franchise when the bench mark for quality is “not terrible,” though. Luckily, Black Flag succeeds in being engaging as well. The gameplay is the same Assassin’s Creed gameplay you’ve come know and love, hate or tolerate depending on your disposition. As one would expect after nearly half a dozen iterations, it’s been refined significantly. But still far from perfect. It still feels Janky. Kenway still clings to nearby climbable object when you don’t want him to. It’s an inevitable side effect of the simplified controls (hold down right trigger and push forward on the left stick). This leads to some excruciating moments, times when I want to throw my controller through my television while hollering, “Fuck you Ubisoft!!” until my voice is hoarse.
Unlike Assassin’s Creed 3, stealth is actually somewhat viable here. I think it goes back to the improved area design. Thick foliage you can hide in is, for the most part, generously scattered throughout restricted areas. Taking guards out from hiding spots is very satisfying, and when you do fuck up and get spotted it makes vanishing easier than it’s ever been. Now, it’s not that I don’t like a challenge. But this is an improvement over the previous AC games because they’ve never really been challenging in the right way. They’ve been full of bullshit, and most fail states can be chalked up to the janky controls. A easy but addictive game is better than a difficult—but not particularly rewarding—one.
The missions where you are ordered to assassinate a target are for the most part great. Sure, they begin with an unfortunate tailing portion, but once that’s over, you can plan your approach and execute. This is the most satisfying aspect of the game, by far. Ubi seems to know what the people want, too, because nearly every mission makes a flashy aerial assassination viable. In a couple you are even told to go for the aerial for a 100% sync.
This may seem like a glowing review. That’s because I’m talking about the things that I liked. I don’t want to discuss the same complaints that have been rehashed and regurgitated ever since people were introduced to Altair back in 2007. The checklist game design. The open world for the sake of an open world. The tower climbing! My, god, the tower climbing. At this point, those things just come with the territory of not only AC, but any Ubisoft game.
The fanbase is split on the modern day, outside the Animus portions. Me? I love ‘em. Actually, all the modern day content in Black Flag is what made me like it enough to be bothered writing this. I hacked every single computer. I got most of the sticky notes, but lost my desire to collect them once I realized they had little to offer in terms of narrative insight. But the data on the computers was fascinating, and it really inspired me to delve deeper into the Assassin’s Creed lore. Learning about the origins of the Animus project, and reading Abstergo’s files on Desmond really piqued my interest. There’s even a brief mention of ctOS, proving that Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed are in the same universe. And even the filler content, like the Abstergo market analysis reports, were at least interesting. They also functioned as a commentary on the state of the videogame industry, although these criticisms ring hollow coming from Ubisoft.
All of this leads me to conclude that Black Flag is a game for Assassin’s Creed fans. It certainly isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel any more than it’s not trying to broaden the appeal of the franchise. It has what one has come to expect of an AC game, the good and the bad. They did learn from 3 though, it seems, because here we have a tighter narrative and less monotonous gameplay. I’ve yet to play Assassin’s Creed: Unity, but I really hope Ubi continues exploring the modern day exploits of the Templars, Assassins and the First Civilization. Black Flag’s handling of the series’ lore has me more devoted than ever.
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