Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Plot synopsis:
=== Characters ===
The main character of the game is Edward Kenway (Matt Ryan), a Welsh privateer-turned-pirate and eventual member of the Assassin Order. Edward is the father of Haytham Kenway, and grandfather of Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor), the two playable characters of Assassin's Creed III. Real-life individuals that are encountered include the pirates Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch (voiced by Mark Bonnar), Benjamin Hornigold, Mary Read, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack, and Charles Vane (Ralph Ineson).
=== Setting ===
As is the case in previous games in the Assassin's Creed series, the story is divided into two intertwined halves, with one in the present day, one in a historical setting, and the events of each influencing the other. Although the present-day story had previously established that an Animus was required to view one's ancestors memories, the ending of Assassin's Creed III reveals that Abstergo can now view a host's genetic memories simply by sequencing the host's DNA. As such, the player character is hired by Abstergo Entertainment to investigate a pivotal character in Desmond's ancestry, the Assassin Edward Kenway. A notorious pirate and privateer operating during the Golden Age of Piracy, Kenway's story is set in the Caribbean, and mixes open-ended ship-based exploration with combat and land-based adventures in Cuba and Jamaica, and on a number of Caribbean islands, parts of southern Florida and eastern Mexico.
=== Plot ===
Samples taken from Desmond Miles' body in the moments after his death have enabled Abstergo Industries to continue to explore his genetic memories using the Animus' newfound cloud computing abilities. The unnamed player character is hired by Abstergo Entertainment, from their Montréal headquarters, to sift through the memories of Edward Kenway, an eighteenth-century pirate, the father of Haytham Kenway and the grandfather of Ratonhnhaké:ton. Ostensibly, this is to gather material for an Animus-powered interactive feature film, but in reality, Abstergo—the Templars of the present time—are searching for a First Civilization structure known as the Observatory, and are using the memories of Edward Kenway to find it.
As Kenway, the player must unravel a conspiracy between high-ranking Templars within the British and Spanish empires who, under the guise of cleaning up piracy in the Caribbean, have used their positions to locate the Sage—later identified as Bartholomew Roberts—who is the only man that can lead them to the Observatory, a First Civilization device which can monitor anyone anywhere in the world when provided a blood sample, which they intend to use to spy on and blackmail world leaders. Kenway becomes an unwitting player in their plot when he kills a rogue Assassin, Duncan Walpole. Seeing an opportunity for profit, Kenway takes Walpole's place at a meeting of Templars in Havana, where he meets Woodes Rogers as well as Cuban Governor, and Templar Grandmaster, Laureano Torres. His recklessness endangers the entire Assassins' Order, prompting him to pursue the Sage and the conspirators from the Yucatán Peninsula to Jamaica, eventually catching Roberts on the island of Príncipe off of the African coast.
Meanwhile, a band of notorious pirates—including Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch, Benjamin Hornigold, Mary Read (under the alias "James Kidd") and Charles Vane, among others—dream of a pirate utopia where man is free to live beyond the reach of kings and rulers. With Kenway's help, they seize control of Nassau and establish a pirate republic. However, poor governance, a lack of an economy and an outbreak of disease bring the pirate state perilously close to collapse, with the founders divided on the best way forward. Kenway attempts to resolve the dispute, but is too late to stop the Templars from exploiting the situation for their own ends.
Eventually, Kenway and Roberts uncover the location of the Observatory and retrieve the artifact powering it, but Kenway is betrayed by Roberts at the last moment. After a brief stint in prison for the crimes of piracy, Edward escapes with the aid of Ah Tabai, the Assassin Mentor, and elects to join their Order. Chasing down and eliminating Roberts and the Templar conspirators, Kenway retrieves the artifact and returns it to the Observatory, sealing it away for good. He is left facing an uncertain future with his newfound convictions until he receives a letter informing him of the passing of his wife and the imminent arrival of his hitherto unknown daughter, Jennifer Scott. Kenway travels back to England, promising Ah Tabai that he will one day return to continue the fight against the Templars. Some years later, Kenway, Jennifer (using her mother's surname in her memory) and Kenway's young son Haytham are about to watch a play in an English theatre.
In the present day, the player is contacted by John, Abstergo Entertainment's information technology manager. John convinces the player that their employers know more than they are telling, and encourages them to investigate in more detail. He convinces the player to hack several Animus terminals and security cameras, and then has them deliver the information taken to Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, who are working undercover to infiltrate Abstergo. When the facility is locked down after the hackings are discovered, John arranges for the player to access the Animus' core, at which point Juno materializes into an incorporeal form. She reveals that although it was necessary to open her temple to avert disaster, the world was not ready for her, and she is unable to affect it or possess the player character as her agents intended. John is unmasked as the reincarnated form of the Sage and attempts to murder the player to cover up the failed attempt at resurrecting Juno, but is killed by Abstergo's security before he can do so, thus implicating him as the one responsible for the hacks. As Roberts, the Sage admits to Kenway that he owes no allegiance to the Assassins or the Templars and instead uses whoever he thinks represents his best chance of achieving his ends. With the Sage dead, the player is contacted by the Assassins as they continue their infiltration of Abstergo, but neither side is able to explain the Sage's presence or identify his followers, the Instruments of the First Will.
=== Freedom Cry ===
The Freedom Cry downloadable content is set twenty years after the events of Black Flag and follows Adéwalé in his mission as an Assassin.
While attempting to intercept Templar activities in the West Indies Sea, Adéwalé is shipwrecked off the coast of Haiti. Making his way into Port-au-Prince, he establishes that the Templars are working with Bastienne Josèphe, the proprietor of a local brothel and a sympathiser to the Maroons, a faction of freedom fighters made up of liberated slaves led by Augustin Dieufort. Despite his obligations to the Brotherhood of Assassins, Adéwalé becomes sympathetic to their cause, and joins with the Maroons in hijacking a vessel, Experto Crede, in order to interrupt the slave trade.
Whilst working for Bastienne, Adéwalé begins to uncover a conspiracy within the French provincial government ruling Port-au-Prince. The local governor, Pierre de Fayet, plans a clandestine scientific expedition to measure the curvature of the earth and gather geographical data, which they intend to sell to the highest bidder with the promise of naval superiority. Adéwalé successfully sabotages the expedition by substituting the illiterate slaves being used by the expedition for literate members of the Maroons.
Tensions begin to arise within the Maroons when Adéwalé plots further raids against the slave trade. Bastienne objects, as de Fayet will only punish those trapped in slavery further as punishment. Adéwalé ignores her, but is horrified when he witnesses a frigate fire on an unarmed slave ship to prevent the slaves from joining the Maroons. Adéwalé boards the slave ship and manages to save a few slaves from drowning before the ship capsized with the rest. He plans retribution, but Bastienne cautions that taking revenge will weaken the Maroons' cause; if Adéwalé is to kill de Fayet, then he should do so acting as an agent of justice. After assaulting the Governor's Mansion, pursuing him through the city and fighting off a local garrison, Adéwalé finally corners and kills de Fayet, who claims that slaves are incapable of self-governance and turn to armed uprising at the slightest provocation. Adéwalé points out that none of the slaves or overseers came to his aid, and instead let him die. After killing de Fayet, Adéwalé returns to Bastienne, promising to leave Port-au-Prince for good, but pledging to use his newfound convictions to aid people who are oppressed rather than the cause of their would-be liberators.

Tags: action

Review:
After a respite, I have returned to Animus to live the life of Edward Kenway in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
This title picks up after the events of Assassin's Creed III, but has a very different setting.
Instead of being a modern day Assassin, hiding from the Templars and delving into the past via an Animus, your character works for the Templars, or rather their Abstergo Entertainment Company as an analyst for the Sample 17 project.
The goal of the project is to produce a video game, set in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy, based on the 'donated' memories that comprise Sample 17.As the games before it, Black Flag is a third-person, open world, action-adventure title with a heavy emphasis on stealth.
As pirate captain Edward Kenway, you stalk the Caribbean for the biggest prizes, and remove any obstacle from your path, typically with a sharp blade.
If you should not be exposed to such content, then you likely should not be reading this review.Should you set sail under the black flag or scuttle this game?
Ubisoft keeps to the well written formula of the past games while improving on some fields, enough to make the game interesting and fun to play..
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is most definitely the fun game to play.Gameplay is very similar to that of it's predecessor, but with a lot more naval combat this time (which is something you'd expect from a game about pirates).
Speaking of which, the naval combat has been slightly, but nevertheless significantly improved to add to a more pirate- like atmosphere of the game.
The one thing I didn't like about it was ' naval stealth', in which enemy ships have cones of vision and as long as you don't enter it they can't see you, which is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.Black Flag has, so far, the best graphics in the series (although they're not quite next-gen).As for the story itself, it may be the weakest link of the game.
It's not so much focused on the everlasting battle between Templars and Assassins like it was in the previous games.
Of course, that doesn't make it any less enjoyable to play, it just makes it less an 'Assassin's Creed' title then any other game in the series.Overall, the game is absolutely worth your time, you can't make a mistake by buying it, although people who haven't played any of it's prequels may have a hard time settling in the story..
Whether or not you're a fan of Assassin's Creed, it doesn't matter.
This game will satisfy both fans of the series and those who just want a damn good pirate game.
Black Flag is an ambitious game but has a truly great pay-off at the end.
With the north part of the Caribbean as your world (including but not limited to places like Jamaica, Cuba and Barbados) you can sail as pirate captain Edward Kenway on your ship, the Jackdaw, through the open seas taking on British and Spanish ships to steal their cargo, hunting sea creatures and exploring underwater shipwrecks.
Well here you can use that money to upgrade your character as well as your bad-ass pirate ship.
As the game progresses you'll be able to take on larger and larger vessels with bigger prizes and even take on the Legendary ships.
Issues with the game however are that combat is still to easy, stealth is not refined enough and regardless of being a fan of the franchise, the story really didn't do it enough for me.
Before this game, all previous Assassin's Creed games felt the same.
It even made WatchMojo.com's top 10 most overrated games list due to Assassin's Creeds 1-3 all playing extremely similar.
Fans got a taste of this in Assassin's Creed III, but it is nowhere near the level Of 4.
Whether it's hunting sharks, collecting cargo, sailing to an island, seeking treasure or engaging in Naval Battles, sailing pirate ships in AC4 is an incredible and well polished gameplay mechanic.
Aside from that, it also made the world feel more real, since you could almost all of the Caribbean sea.
Not only is this a must have for any Assassin's Creed fan, but it's also a great game for new players to start, since the story no longer follows Desmond Miles..
The best pirate video game I've ever played.
It's the sixth instalment in the Assassin's Creed series and the familiar game mechanics perfectly suit life on the high seas as a swashbuckling, self-serving, no nonsense pirate.
The shanties, hidden treasures, multiple factions and the game's economy system mean it is a rewarding play through.
For those familiar to the series Black Flag follows a similar story arch to previous titles: Assassins attempting to thwart the Templars grand plans (albeit from a different angle).
But the game's lure isn't in the story line but yet another beautifully constructed sandbox world full of dozens of islands to explore and different types of side missions to embark on.
Black Flag isn't a game to be rushed but a world to immerse in and enjoy at your own leisure.
Nevertheless, with the morals of the Creed creeping in it isn't the complete pirate experience but the best one I've had yet..
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag seems to have come out a really short while after Assassin's Creed III.
Maybe a hurried product is enough to explain the overall dull feeling this sequel is placated with.You play as Edward Kenway, a Welsh bucanneer out for riches and fame who bumps into the Assassins-Templars feud.
The plot is one of the few reasons left to keep buying into this franchise, not necessarily because it's a great story but more due to the fact that a lot of the players from the previous entries are somewhat already invested in it.Caribbean and pirates sounds like a natural match for an Assassin's Creed game and it plays like it.
Even though most core mechanics are old and predictable by now, boarding ships, bombarding forts and being an otherwise badass salty sea dog works really well with the AC engine and gameplay.
Naturally, most of the things you'll be doing have to do with seafaring, treasure hunting, naval combat and other pirate-related demeanor.In the graphics department, Ubisoft seems to have kicked things up a notch from the previous title.
While you can still play the game in the lowest possible settings and feel okay with it, the highest settings are a world apart by comparison.
Regardless, the game world looks pretty amazing, water in particular.Black Flag plays pretty much like any other AC game and, as usual, more than half the content are side-missions.
I hardly ever go for 100% in sandbox games; I don't have the patience to complete absolutely every mission.
On this occasion, though, it feels like developers made a conscious, sadistic effort to make completionists waste a ton of time.
The problem lies with islands being relatively too far apart from one another and having to spend the better part of your time just sailing (or swimming) to your next objective.
Fast travel hubs and 'travel speed' when sailing remedy this some, but it's still painfully difficult to spend so much time just staring at the back of your ship to tackle a side-mission that's probably going to take a fraction of the time it took you to get to it.
All of this put together makes AC4's biggest flaw since the main missions go by pretty quickly.My second gripe with the game is the amount of content that got cut off on release to put out as DLC later.
Even if it takes you a long-ass time to go for 100% (see above), AC4 is not particularly fleshed out in terms of content and things to do, so being stingy with DLC just to get an extra $14.99 sucks monkey's testes.
The main storyline is fun to play through and some of the new types of missions are engaging, but it still is a pretty shallow experience.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013).
If ur an assassin's Creed fan or just want to be a pirate then this is the game for you..
Good story but combat was way too easy.
The story was really good and the naval combat was handled excellently.
I don't tend to be a dyed-in-the-wool Assassin's Creed fan (I played "II", but it wasn't really my cup of tea), but there's an insatiable pull to "Black Flag": that of being a pirate!
It's still an Assassin's Creed game, and there's plenty of stalking, climbing and stabbing to be done, but that was all kind of a distraction; I couldn't give a rip about pausing the action just to hack a computer in a neighboring office - I just wanted to get back to the plundering.
There's an unbelievable variety of missions and side projects to do here - upgrading your ship, building an armada and rankling the British Navy - this thing would have me playing in three-hour stretches.
Part of my problem with AC is that I'd felt like I'd been plopped into a story-in-progress with "ACII", so if I'd bothered to do some reading on what Abstergo and the Animus is, I might've cared more.
But coming to this just for its likable main character and thrilling sense of adventure, "Black Flag" delivers the goods.
I would recommend investing in other Assassin Creed Titles first.
Not only this but I played about 6 hours last night getting around 12% through the game I wake up today to find it went back to 6% ???
The story is decent but there is not enough depth to keep me on the game after losing hours of progress.
After the fairly decent AssCreed3, and considering the many positive reviews for this game, I made the mistake of having slightly higher expectations than usual.
It sorely lacks atmosphere when compared to games like Dishonored or The Witcher or films like 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.
The main character is decent, but does not quite have the charisma of Ezio or Haytham from previous games.The missions and gameplay built on the story are very bland and repetitive.
It seems like the devs were slightly lazier than usual - AssCreed3 missions were far from perfect, but still seemed slightly more varied and hand-crafted.The difficulty balance of the gameplay is poor.
This makes trying to play stealth frustrating, because the odds feel unfairly stacked against you, and it is always so much easier to just fight and kill everyone.
But fighting gets boring quickly - you just spam attacks, then counter when prompted, and repeat that indefinitely.The sandbox gameplay has been brought to the fore, but like the main missions, it is very arcade, bland, and repetitive.
Still things like naval battles and boarding enemy ships are novel for a while and work fairly reliably, which is more than can be said of naval battles in a Total War game (Shogun II etc).
The sea shanties (songs) are a nice touch, and possibly the single best feature in this game.Graphics are the best yet for an AssCreed game, and the first in my opinion to just about match those of Crysis 1 (released 6 years earlier).
Enemy ships also handle like powerboats.
In some ways the sailing physics were more realistic in AC3 - you could not sail into the wind, and it felt slightly more natural, though admittedly less reliable (momentarily flying ships etc).PC controls are as bad as usual.
They are not game-breaking, but they do work against you - I messed up a lot of missions because my character would do the wrong thing like randomly climbing a wall.
A few times just before successfully capturing a huge enemy ship, I would fall from a mast to my death due to glitched controls.
It is not a "bad" game, but it does not deserve any of the hyped reviews..
The best entry in the series after Assassin's Creed 2, Black Flag proves a game can overcome several flaws as long as it manages to be fun.A high-budget pirate sandbox action/adventure where you can sail around the sea from Kingston to Nassau, board enemy ships during naval battles, roam crocodile-infested swamps, run parkour-style on the roofs of Havana, dig for buried treasures in small atolls...
Whatever - don't play Assassin's Creed expecting reliable history lessons.
What would you rather do in a game about pirates - take control of your ship in the middle of a storm or speak to your boss in a corporate office?
Every time the game shifts to a modern-day sequence (thankfully, not often) it's like getting commercials in the middle of a blockbuster.Black Flag has a few dubious design choices.
Overall, you'd think stealth and combat would be more polished in a series about assassins.
Still, the game is better than the sum of its parts and highly enjoyable - in particular, its mix of naval and terrestrial exploration (journey to far away islands, visit jungles with jaguars and Mayan ruins...) is fantastic.
For another entertaining (but sadly underrated) sandbox in the same setting, try Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)..
The assassins in this game are mostly on an island called Tulum.
There are a few spread across the sea that are essential to the first game.
Now this game actually takes place before Assassins Creed 3.
Edward (the main character of Black Flag) is the father of Hathaway whom is the father of Connor in Assassins Creed 3.
The story starts off with Edward not taking accustom to Assassins or Templars.
As the story progresses Edward meets the assassins on a Mayan island as stated above called Tulum.
The assassins are not pirates.
It's another fantastic Assassins Creed game with fantastic gameplay and an amazing story line with a few twists..
The Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag reviewAre ya ready kids!
Well, as I went through this game there was no stopping my exploration needs.
Previous games had big cities as their main location but now, as well as having a few of these; the creators have gifted you with a whole ocean for traversing.
Another added feature aside from the open world sea exploring were the diving sequences which are actually quite a few.
Ship boarding and fort taking are some cool mechanics that the game also offers and they serve the fleshing out of the characters as well as random unscripted cinematic action sequences which make you feel like a badass.
Before mentioning the awesome moment that completed my love for this game I will address some negatives about it.
These moments have been present since the dawn of the Assassin's Creed games and it would be very pleasing if they could be corrected in the future.
My other problem with it is that some cutscenes and story moments felt rushed at times.
I can understand this as the game is more focused in ambiance and exploration but some felt lacking some character.
And I say this because it could have ended with whatever short cutscene featuring Edward going away.
It didn't matter if the relationships with some of them didn't end well but they impacted the journey in a positive way, and that kind of nostalgia can only be achieved in a cutscene if it uses, like I mentioned, the weight of all those hours playing that game.
Maybe it was the music or the nostalgia that swallowed me whole in that moment or seeing Edward smile as he sees his daughter, but that cutscene in general hit me pretty bad, in a good way because I wasn't expecting something that heavy!
It stands out in some many ways not previously explored by some AC games and it totally achieves greatness.
now, i just brought a copy of assassin's creed 4 home.
why did ubisoft replace them with pirates?
this is'nt pirates of the Caribbean, this is assassin's creed!
very disappointed and feeling sad for assassin's creed.
i don't know how it will be in the next games of assassin's creed.
This is the worst Assassins Creed in history.
its just a alluring feature to invite you into what will be your undoing!This game...is a product of laziness, rushing, lack of ambition and I really cannot stress the word "lack" and total disrespect to all of the AC and ESPECIALLY pirate fans.
The story I didn't care much for but as many others aside from me have pointed out its not very good.
But I got unpleasantly surprised.The game is beyond repetitive and its not just the usual combat features like melee combat, the assassination missions, the following missions of which there are plenty.
I could go on about the features on land that people might worry about but its all irrelevant considering, and this is THE most unforgivable thing in the entire game, the naval combat is completely horrific.
If you played AC3 and consider buying Black Flag to see more naval combat etc.
Getting more ships would require more work, time, money, EFFORT!!!
I felt like I was playing Counter strike or Call of Duty...
Call of Black Flag more like it...
It gives the meaning of repetitive game play an ENTIRELY new meaning.
This is why this game is so bad.
This is why this game is so bad.
THIS is why Black Flag is a NOTHING compared to AC3.
It's INSANELY BORING AND CRAZILY AND OUTRAGEOUSLY Repetitive!THAT IS NAVAL LIFE IN BLACK FLAG.
On land its the same old story as the other AC games...
but this game was supposed to be on sea and its horrifically dreadful.
If you want a pirate game, this is NOT it.
THis is a disgrace to all naval games.
This is Call of Duty meets Assassins creed.
This is the worst "pirate" game i've ever played.