Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Bismillah.

Finished playing Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, and it was AWESOME!

No, really, I mean it. Maybe part of the awesomeness comes because I haven't been playing computer games for a while now...but my point still stands! You don't believe it? Ask around, which Assassin's Creed is the best among the titles in the series?

Most would say AC4 or AC2. Yep.

For those who are not familiar with the game, Assassin's Creed (AC) is an action/adventure sort of game, where you can climb buildings and kill people stealthily as an assassin obviously. The franchise's from Ubisoft. I like their Prince of Persia 2008 too.

A few published titles of AC up until now:
AC1 - play as Altair Ibn Lahad. Arabic origin of sort...I don't know. Haven't played.
AC2 - play as Ezio Auditore la Firenze. Italian...I think. Haven't got the chance to play either.
AC2 Brotherhood - Ezio too. Travel around Rome. Pretty cool to be able to climb the Colloseum.
AC2 Revelations - Ezio again, he's old now. This time in Constantinople. Which is way fascinating. Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace...But I'll be damned, I only got to play halfway before the game crashed on me :(
AC3 - play as Haytham, then Connor (or RatonHaketon if you prefer the native name). Travel around Boston, New York...basically America during the struggle to independence. Currently playing.
AC4 Black Flag - play as Edward Kenway, a pirate! Travel around Carribean sea. He's father of Haytham, grandfather of Connor.
AC4 Rogue - play as Shay, a Templar. Haven't played this one.
AC5 Unity - play as Arno, in France. Haven't played too.

Ezio at the Colosseum

So what's awesome about AC4? Everything! Haha. The game's won the best action/adventure game award if I'm not mistaken. The Assassin's Creed wikia says so.

First. At the beginning of the game, you are well guided. The controls are intuitive enough, and explained well. First timers to AC may need some time to be familiar with it, but believe me, you won't regret it. This time around you'll only need to right click to free run, instead of pressing space too, like in AC2 Brotherhood. Less hassle. After that, the game slowly introduce you to controlling ship, synchronizing viewpoints, guns, buying at stores, naval combats...it gives you time to be familiar with one skill before introducing a new one, which is good. It doesn't provide you with lots of information at the same time, like in AC3.

Second. Of course, the beautiful graphic. Landscape, nature...oh God the water! It's so beautiful and crystal clear! Then we travel from an island to another, climbing trees, killing crocodiles, hunting whales! (Luckily it's only in a game). Discover undergound caves...oh you'd feel like an explorer in no time. And that's just about the graphic. Now the sound...I've always been fan to pirates soundtracks, like that movie Pirates of Carribean? Cool, majestic sounding OST. That, and the sound of the sea while you're controlling your ship, chatters of your deck crew, the shanties...! Yes! The crews sing shanties when you're travelling in the sea. It makes you feel like the ship is your family.

Third. Interesting main character. Edward Kenway is a pirate, you guys. Who wouldn't want to play as one! And he's a cool one at that. Before, I used to think Assassins as serious people, going around fighting injustice...but Edward's different. He's mistakenly helped the Templars at the beginning, but then he righted his ways by helping the Assassins even though he wasn't one. And he's a jovial one. Maybe some will say, Ezio's a better AC character. I wish to feel the same too, but I didn't play AC2. But I can see that, Ezio seems prety cool too. I mean, three AC titles just for him! Haa. But Edward's cool too. And he's half naked when he went whale hunting! Lol. Tell me, who other Assassins take off their clothes and show their abs in AC? Tell me now because I wanna play them. Haha. And also, that collectible Templar and Mayan armors are pretty neat. Especially the Mayan one. Looks like IronMan, without the helmet. It deflects metal projectiles as a bonus. The Templar one increases your defense.

 

Mayan armor

Let's hunt, lads.

Fourth, a big world to explore, and the fact that you got yourself a nice ship named the Jackdaw. What signals a good game for me is that I will strive to complete everything. And in AC4, I do just that. I go around almost every is,and, synchronize almost every veiwpoints, explore underwater wrecks (yes, you can do that in AC4), complete naval contracts, destroy naval ports...ooo I love me Jackdaw. I love upgrading its broadside cannons up 23 on each side (the max, I know I'm cool 8) ), the hull, swivel guns, I love attacking and plundering other ships...I almost run out of upgrades and places to travel after not even half of the main story line yet. That's how exciting the world in AC4 Black Flag is.

Compared to others in the series that I have played, namely AC2 Brotherhood, AC2 Revelations (half) and AC3 (currently playing), AC4 Black Flag certainly takes things up a notch. AC2 has got the usual assassin stuff, climbing building, killing people, search for secret treasure...AC3...I get it, Ubisoft sort of tried to introduce lots of different ideas at the same time, with the crafting, accounting book, trading, hunting...what the hell. Trading's too complicated especially, and I don't know why do we need hunting anyway. AC4 Black Flag is much simpler and more focused. Hunting's only to craft things, but you can still buy crafting goods in stores. And I still can't find where the stores are in AC3 T_T!

Comparing AC4 Black Flag to Tomb Raider now, because all those climbing reminds me of it. Tomb Raider's much more realistic with how much easier Lara can die, and all her movements and survival instincts (eagle sense in AC). In AC I feel like you are much more resilient. You don't die after falling from high places into the haystack lol. But to each its own. Tomb Raider's much more grim and mythical, AC's much more unrealistic but with a touch of real history.

Anyway, I play games in order to do things that we couldn't do in reality. And I've been having fun with the AC franchise for bringing me to places without even lifting my butt of the seat. Lol that actually sounds sad. But it's pretty cool. You can even travel to galaxies beyond ours in Mass Effect 2. Who knows where else would games bring us to next?

Off into the Omega 4 Relay!