As yearly franchises, or anything close to it, go; Assassin’s Creed has better managed a certain level of quality. Even when Ezio was wearing out his welcome in Revelations I still found myself having a good time. Things may have not differed from the previous two installments a whole lot, but at the heart, was the ever-entertaining combat and parkour action. Fortunately AC: III brought a similar feeling of freshness that the AC: II had several years before. Even if I no longer cared for Desmond's story, mucking about in the Revolutionary War was grand. However, when Black Flag was revealed earlier this year, I was starting to tire of my time-traveling escapades. AC: III’s ending may have been a mess, but it was an ending nonetheless, and the idea of jumping back into the Animus for a fifth straight year was not very enticing. Still, after hearing plenty of positive hullabaloo, I decided I would give Black Flag its fair chance. We don’t get enough pirate games after all, and how bad could it be?
While never boasting stellar narratives, the stories of Ezio, Connor, and even Altair were easily sympathetic. This isn’t the case for Black Flag’s, Edward Kenway. The start is a promising one. Kenway has a refreshing lack of allegiance to the Assassins and would much rather spends his time sailing the high seas, and daydreaming about his lover back in England. From here, everything comes crumbling apart, because frankly none of the characters are the least bit interesting. Far too often Ubisoft tries to play-up your hanging out with infamous pirates, as if that were a proper substitute for character development. By the time the final hours roll around it’s more of a guided tour than a story. Even Kenway becomes little more than a list of traits. There’s a late-game moment where you’re supposed to feel for him and all his struggles, but it falls flatter than Kansas. I was however surprised by how much I enjoyed the set-up of the modern day sequences. The idea of Abstergo mining memories from the Animus to use in feature films and other forms of entertainment is meta to the overarching narrative of the Assassins and Templars. Detrimentally, the final sequence pans out just as poorly as Kenway’s.
The lack of interesting characters got me thinking. Was the Golden Age of Piracy really the best of choices? Apparently not. Well, at least not when the characters fail to be fleshed out. It’s simply not enough to meet a person named Blackbeard or go to town named Nassau when there's no personality behind the titles. Even as someone moderately familiar with many periods of history, I rarely caught myself having those “oh wow” moments with recognizable pieces of architecture and familiar names.
Which brings me to my next complaint. Much of the time spent on land, is done so in incredibly dull landscapes and towns. Imagine the city you enjoyed the least from all the previous games. Scale that down and then take away almost all of its verticality. That’s the best offered. When not in the underwhelming civilized areas, there are tiny islands and incredibly linear jungles to bore you even further.
I’m sure there are some arguing it’s not about the cities or jungles, and that you spend most of your time on the high seas. You sure do. You really, really do. Now I’m one of those nutty people who enjoyed sailing in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, so I expected the same of Black Flag. When your crew is singing sea shanties, the suns is setting, and you’re navigating the blue waters of the Caribbean, it’s a soothing time. However, when the majority of gameplay is taken up by sailing around, fighting identical ships off the coast of samey islands, the charm soon wears off. Speaking of tedious, naval combat also quickly becomes a one trick pony. Fights eventually boil down to circling weaker ships or employing hit and run tactics on stronger ones. I understand the naval missions of AC: III were a big hit, but I think Ubisoft has overdone it. Multiple missions have some contrived reason to force naval combat. Rather than stealthily avoiding large forces, Kenway seems dead-set on getting his entire crew killed. Enemy ships bar the harbour, why not just land on the other side of the island? No, screw that, let’s take them on, because reasons! And it’s not just naval affairs. A late game boss battle not only forced me to kill with only my pistols, but enforced numerous other arbitrary stipulations.
The overall mechanics of on-land combat remain unchanged from III, but with several odd hiccups floating about. Kenway’s arsenal is laughable in comparison to Connor’s. New additions include blow darts...and blow darts. More weapons are removed then added. There’s no bow. You don’t unlock the rope darts until the final couple missions, and the pistols are shaky at best. Glitches and poor design are also more prevalent. Sometimes hitting attack only makes Kenway perform jazz-hands. Surrounded by enemies and he just stands there and takes it. More aggravating are the random enemies who appear from off screen, already in full swing.
When things do work however, slaughtering large groups is as fun as it ever is. By no means does Black Flag break the trend of easy swordplay, but when you string together kill after kill, it’s an exhilarating as ever. I only wish you spent more time on land, then at sea. Black Flag hits it’s highest marks when you’re gutting British and Spanish troops by the dozen.
Like in every previous titles since AC: II, there is a multiplayer mode to speak of. Not a whole lot has changed since III, which is a good thing. The cat and mouse gameplay can be thrilling as you run through levels trying to ditch or catch your opponents. While enjoyable, I still don’t believe it’s the time-sink Ubisoft hopes it to be. You’ll likely to be able to pick up a few rounds every now and then, but don’t expect to spend days and days online. Beware, you still have to deal with Ubisoft’s uPlay passport which also infuriatingly cuts out fleet management from single player.
My hopes were well in check when I picked up Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, but that didn’t seem to help. As a series there is still potential, and I’ve not completely given up on the franchise, but these yearly installments are doing no favors. Assassin’s Creed is at it’s strongest when it takes time to innovate. Much of the newer features in Black Flag fail to entertain but the core experience is still there in a weakened state. There’s the required base for the makings of a good game, but it never comes together for very long. For every hour of enjoyment, there is one of frustration.
Should you get Black Flag? Well, that depends on how desperate you are. I’d suggest you wait though. Clear out some of your backlog, or get something more promising while you wait for a significant price drop.
6/10
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