Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Part 2-1
With the terrors of the Nightreign held at bay, we’re ready to return to the life and times of pirate captain Edward Kenway. Surely, there will something worth plundering out on the ocean waves.
It is often said that Black Flag is both one of the best games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise and one of the worst at being an Assassin’s Creed game. When people make claims like that, this is largely what they have in mind.
Although we had a technical issue with the sailing tutorial very early on, in general they are excellent mechanics. There’s just enough floatiness to the sailing to convey the sense of the winds dictating our ability to move through the water while still giving us enough maneuverability to control ourselves in the middle of combat. Similarly, the weapons force us to take aim, but are accurate enough that we can be a little off while still getting the job done. And with the ability to dodge and brace for cannon fire, there are just enough offensive and defensive options for an engaging simulation of pirate life. Since that is the majority of what we’re doing in-game, it was vital to Black Flag to get this right on the heels of Assassin’s Creed 3.
And yet, because it is most of what we’re asking to do, it leaves far less room for the assassinations and conspiracy theory kitchen soup that sit at the core of what this franchise offered both before and in the games following. Most of that ends up on the periphery of what is otherwise more generally a pirate adventure.
It’s there, and we’ll get to it later, but it’s hidden like a buried treasure.
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