11/1/13 11:00AM |
I rented Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag for two days this week, and while I didn't play enough of it to provide a review, I still wanted to write a bit about my impressions of the game.
I played it on Xbox 360, and was very impressed with what they've done to improve the AC formula from last year's title. As yearly titles go, Assassin's Creed is a series that I'm always interested in checking out, and one that seems to get better each time with every new release.
The first thing I enjoyed about the beginnings of Black Flag is that it's quick to get you into the action. AC III was criticized for it's long start up which took around 5+ hours to really get into the heart of the game, but Black Flag take only a few minutes to throw you into the shoes of Edward Kenway, an aspiring pirate who is only out for gold and is very willing to spill blood to get more.
He's a fairly agile pirate too, and can traverse the wilderness just like Connor could in AC III, as well as hunt animals and use their parts to craft new items or just sell and get some more coin.
Built as both a current and next-gen game, Black Flag looks really amazing on 360. I watched a few reviews of the game that showcased the next-gen versions, and was surprised that at least for now, the differences weren't that drastic -- although the bells and whistles were very nice from what I saw in video form from the PS4 version.
If you can't grab the new consoles at launch, you'll still be getting a great looking current gen title to play.
If you enjoyed the Naval combat in AC III, you'll be right at home with Black Flag, and even if you didn't, there have been some great improvements to controlling ships and using cannons, so you won't have to repeat sections because of frustration with battling the camera and slow ship movement.
Reviews say to expect around 40 hours of gameplay, and that's only from the campaign. I couldn't try multiplayer since I didn't have the Uplay pass, but that is actually ending, so Black Flag and future Ubisoft titles won't have a pass soon, so anyone can enjoy the online features of their games no matter if you're playing a used, borrowed or rented disc.
I'd like to pick up the game in the future, and will have a review when that time comes around. What I can say now though is that Black Flag is worth the look and looks to be another great addition to the AC series.
Friday, November 1, 2013
