The Assassin’s Creed franchise has rapidly become Ubisoft’s most lucrative export. Ubisoft Montreal managed to cultivate a new and fresh take on the stealth genre which broadened its appeal to a wider audience. Their creative vision hit soaring heights with the release of Assassin’s Creed II which is widely perceived as a masterpiece. This roaring success driven by ambition resulted in the adoption of a yearly development cycle. Unfortunately, this ardent desire to churn out a new game every year has caused the series to stagnate. Assassin’s Creed III was plagued by a host of issues including unlikable characters, poor pacing and a tedious narrative. In contrast to this, Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag miraculously explores the player’s ambition to wreak havoc as a loathsome and unscrupulous pirate. The glorious setting is innovative and beautifully designed which manages to reinvigorate the series from the depths of despair.
Throughout the story, you play as a complicated and morally obtuse privateer named Edward Kenway. His motivation and justification of widespread pillaging relies on the desire to live comfortably and provide for his wife. This makes him relatable as you understand his predicament and the need to live a better life outside squalid conditions. Initially, Kenway manages to infiltrate the Templar Order disguised as a British Officer. During this secret meeting, you learn about a surreptitious device which has the ability to spy on any individual providing a blood sample is procured. You must steal this item of unspeakable power and sell it to the highest bidder.
The plot is extremely interesting and never outstays its welcome due to superb character development and impeccable voice acting. Kenway’s journey is fraught with a number of trials and tribulations containing some unexpected shocks which keep you on your toes. The 1700s Caribbean backdrop makes the experience varied and believable. Assassin’s Creed IV features some of the best dialogue I’ve ever seen from major characters and minor NPCs. The script is funny, engaging and most importantly devoid of any unnecessary padding. One particular conversation with Stede Bonnet is highly amusing as Kenway teases Bonnet’s British sensibilities. Bonnet asks, “You don’t know these women do you?” and Kenway responds “No, they charge for that kind of privilege. A few dozen Reals for every hour of knowing them. Keen to meet them? Bonnet in an embarrassed fashion quickly retorts, “Goodness no, I’m a married man.” Ubisoft has implemented lengthy cutscenes in a more fluid manner. This is a stark contrast to boring and unimaginative narrative of the previous game.
There are some notable weaknesses throughout Kenway’s story as pretentious moments break up the overall pacing and rhythm. In reality, you play as an individual who investigates the memories and life events of Edward Kenway. The game periodically switches you from a luxurious pirate setting into an office space. The Abstergo Entertainment office contains computers which can be hacked in restricted areas. These sections during the story are unbelievably mundane and add nothing to the overall experience. You spend most of your time walking at an inane pace around this complex having to complete the odd menial task. Your co-workers also behave in an embarrassing and annoying fashion. They mimic stereotypical pirate phrases and actions in a way which can only be described as cringe-worthy. Overall, the scripted nonsense is jarring and completely detrimental to your immersion as a fearless pirate.
While the office tasks are a significant annoyance, thankfully most of your time will be spent engaging in a wide scope of mission types which prevents the land-based Assassin objectives from being overly repetitive. Objectives involve tailing known targets, listening into hidden conversations and even covert assassinations. Each Memory sets optional tasks rewarding those players who take a stealthier approach. For example, during the Sugarcane and its Yields mission, there are bonuses for staying out of combat and sabotaging two alarm bells. These additional elements add replay value if you want to achieve 100% completion. Each objective is cleverly constructed and allows for a number of approaches. You can tackle an enemy directly or flank them using rooftops and distraction techniques. Environmental objects including bushes and haystacks are crucial to your success and maintain your invisibility. Interestingly enough, I ended up replaying sections where my cover was blown just to attain a perfect run.
One major problem which the game suffers from is a lack of checkpoints during longer quests. Successfully evading a large quantity of enemies can be troublesome as they congregate near most exit paths. You can masterfully reach the climax of a level after deliberating and choosing which strategy to adopt. If your cover is blown during this final hurdle, you are forced to repeat the entire section. As such, it is particularly easy to become frustrated and disinterested when repeating parts of a mission which are easy and familiar to you. Adopting a stealthy approach often involves a degree of trial and error which is punished by the lacklustre and abrupt checkpoint system.
Assassin Creed IV bizarrely omits a difficulty option meaning if you find a particular level too challenging, it may be impossible to progress. In my opinion, the combat is too easy because you feel overpowered compared to your adversaries. Increasing the effectiveness and damage caused by AI strikes would encourage a stealthier playthrough and make the overall experience more tense. This lack of customizability and inability to please players of varying abilities is a major weakness. There are a range of side missions and other activities to keep you enthralled alongside the huge story mode.
Hidden collectables are scattered throughout various islands including: Treasure Chests, Animus Fragments, Maps, Mayan Stones and other items. The Sea Shanties are a welcome addition which require you to chase a musical path and capture it. Your crew gleefully sings along to these catchy tunes and creates a sense of camaraderie. Traditional Assassin contracts are available to complete which test your hunting abilities. You can hire bodyguards, crewmen and even maidens who distract enemy soldiers. The additional content is enjoyable and gives a greater insight into Kenway’s life and his surroundings.
For the first time in the series, Assassin Creed IV implements cinematic naval battles. The all-new physics model is realistic and accurately represents a craft’s behaviour. Each vessel feels heavy due to a narrow turning radius on the choppy seas. As your crew ferociously rows, the waves naturally pass over sections of your boat in a ridiculously authentic manner. There is an exceptional level of detail on offer with individuals sweeping the deck and holding positions as you steer the ship. The unpredictable tide can plunge your craft into enemy waters and you must counteract this sudden change of course. Navigating and traveling via beautifully crafted vessels almost surpasses the stealthy land missions.
Naval engagements are spectacular and set on a grandiose scale. At times, you have to battle against fleets of enemy ships from port and starboard sides. They move in an intelligent way and as one craft distracts you, the other will flank your boat from another direction. Their strategy revolves around maximizing a vessel’s capabilities. For instance, you will face smaller and more agile ships who try to attack you from a suitable distance. Larger boats utilize their weight and ram into you to inflict substantial damage. You can assess the tactical risk before a confrontation using your spyglass to see the concentration of enemies within a restricted or neutral area. This allows you to target certain boats and record them in your HUD. Attacking a rival is fairly simple as you have to gauge the flight of a cannonball and select what area of the ship you want to destroy.
This concept is complicated when you factor in the idea that you must keep moving to avoid enemy bombardments. As such, finding the sweet spot can be a challenge at first. Consistent strikes against an enemy craft grants you the opportunity to target weaker areas and significantly hinder a craft’s robustness. When a boat is teetering on the edge of destruction, you must decide between looting the inventory or boarding the ship to commandeer it. If your vessel suddenly gets barraged with fire, it is possible to brace yourself for impact and minimize the damage. While the combat system is fantastic, it is undoubtedly over far too quickly. Smaller vessels can be destroyed with 2 shots which takes approximately 20 seconds. Ubisoft could have reduced the turn times as they were unsure how popular this new initiative would be.
I’ve always found the Multiplayer aspect of any Assassin’s Creed game to be unique and innovative. Assassin’s Creed IV is no different and features an array of Multiplayer modes to whet your appetite. The options have remained largely unchanged from last year’s game which contain Manhunt, Artifact Assault, Domination, Wanted, Deathmatch and Assassinate. The idea that you are hunting another player whilst being vulnerable against an unknown assassin is exhilarating. I personally adore the Manhunt mode so much that I believe it is a noteworthy advancement which redefines online play. There is now a Game Lab which modifies existing forms of gameplay to customize and create unique user experiences. These alternations have to be approved by the Ubisoft Multiplayer team.
The emphatic Wolfpack mode returns which requires you to defeat 25 sequences of incrementally difficult tasks against the clock. Time rewards are granted for stealthier and more skillful playthroughs under extreme pressure. The matchmaking times are impressive and contain a good amount of players in each mode. Unfortunately, there are no naval battles in the Multiplayer due to time constraints and technical restrictions. In an interview with VG247, Ubisoft stated, “In Black Flag it’s even better, but for solo. We’ve looked at it and we’ve considered it. We seriously considered it. We think it would be cool, but at the same time we tried it, and for technical reasons it’s impossible.”
While the game itself is fantastic, the PC port leaves a lot to be desired due to poor optimization, broken Vsync and disgraceful mouse controls. Graphically, Assassin Creed IV is a beautiful game which isn’t held back in any way by the last generation of consoles. The environmental detail is awe-inspiring and adds a gravitas to each location. Realistic trees engulf your surroundings and heightens that Caribbean feel. I attempted to run the game on maximum settings using a Hexa-Core and an overclocked GTX 670 but this caused a mysteriously low frame rate.
Anything above FXAA destroys the performance levels and almost cut my frame rate in half. The end result is an attractive title full of Aliasing and rough, jagged edges. Also, the optimization is poor and annoyingly unstable. If you leisurely stroll round an island, the fps hits a solid 60fps but town sections drop to sub 30. The maximum frame rate you can attain is 63 which will certainly anger users with a 120hz monitor. There is no option to alter Anisotropic Filtering levels at this current time which is a monumental oversight. Given the superb draw distance, I would theorize that the setting is hard-locked to x8 or x16.
This will almost certainly affect players with a lower end machine who attempt to find a balance between performance and graphical detail. There is a complete lack of Triple Buffering which reduces the frame rate from 60 to 30 if you drop to 59.9 or lower. With VSync enabled, most of the time you have to settle with a rock solid 30fps. Disabling VSync causes horrendous stuttering and some of the worst screen tearing I’ve ever seen. Nvidia users can use D3Doverrider to force Triple Buffering and then enable Vsync in game. AMD owners need to follow similar instructions using the RadeonPro program.
The game also fails to utilize multi core functionality which is surprising considering the newer consoles adopt an 8 core x86 platform. An excellent article from DsoGaming.com argues that the performance difference between dual core and quad core setups is negligible and around 5fps at most. Other technical problems include no windowed mode, 16:10 support and unusable mouse acceleration. If you do not own a 360 controller, nor feel the need to use one in order to play this game, I would strongly suggest avoiding Assassin’s Creed IV. Nvidia customers should refer to this page which outlines the settings you should be using. According to Ubisoft, the PC version was delayed to properly optimize for a platform they care deeply about. Given this statement, I expected the port to be much better.
Conclusion – Is It Worth Your Money?
I found writing this conclusion to be personally heartbreaking. I think Assassin’s Creed IV is by far the best entry in the series and one of my favourite games over the last few years, but the PC version is abysmal and commits a number of cardinal sins. Given this fact, I would wait for a substantial price reduction because the $60 price tag is not acceptable considering the amount of technical shortcomings which cannot be manually corrected.
