Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

2013 addition to the franchise. You're a pirate. You get to freeroam in a ship.
==First play (January 2014-January 2015)==
===Format===
PC at first, then Wii U
===Journal===
I played the first Assassin's Creed when it came out, and although I found the core gameplay really fun and different, and it has left a lasting impression on me, and also that the story was Portal-esque in its slow reveal (I'm talking about the Desmond parts) which thrilled me, I didn't finish it because I got so pissed off at one part where I was being forced to just mow down wave after wave of enemies, without the option of fleeing or hiding.
So when the sequels started rolling out, my poor experience of the first and the apparent clone-iness of the sequels meant I had no inclination to get involved. However, Black Flag's reviews got my attention.
I started playing it casually at the beginning of January 2014. I didn't sink hours into it every day, but by the 14th I had dipped in several times and consider it likely that I'll keep going. I'm a bit frustrated that it's holding my hand so much in that I'm still learning about how to use the damn ship I've been sailing around and using to plunder other ships plenty without any help.
I got it for myself on the Wii U cheap in the sales on Christmas Day 2014 and played it from scratch, finishing it on the 31st of January 2015. Total play time is 99 hours, but some of that is it sitting on in the background while I was distracted with other stuff.
I pretty much 100%ed it, collecting everything I could as I went along. I found it pretty easy to play, satisfying, with fun characters. Having said that, the story was richer than was really properly implemented. I feel like it could have done with more out of the Animus action, and the ending was a bit limp.
If I'm being critical, I think the main character was a bit paper-thin. I guess they did try to make him flawed, but it always seemed like he was just the right mix of rogueish, independent, principled, intelligent, and nice. Like the cartoonish figure of a pirate made to be the protagonist of an unchallenging story.
===Rating===
1, overall, I think. Good, but not great. Definitely a game I enjoyed playing for so many hours.
Category:Video games played in 2014
Category:Video games played in 2015
Category:Video games with 1 rating