Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3161 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,500 out of 3161
  2. Mixed: 438 out of 3161
  3. Negative: 223 out of 3161
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  1. jaydi
    Dec 28, 2013
    9
    If you enjoyed Sid meiers Pirates as well as the AC series, then this game is a piece of heaven for you.

    When I was younger I played Sid meiers pirates and this has all the features of that wonderful title that I spend days off from work to play. Ship upgradeability, a fleet, simple trade, in addition to more management features from previous AC games but this time for ships in your    If you enjoyed Sid meiers Pirates as well as the AC series, then this game is a piece of heaven for you.

    When I was younger I played Sid meiers pirates and this has all the features of that wonderful title that I spend days off from work to play. Ship upgradeability, a fleet, simple trade, in addition to more management features from previous AC games but this time for ships in your fleet. Its pretty cool I wish there was tutorial however for these menus. I have been finding features by accident.

    As they did with Farcry3, ubisoft has created an enormous, atmospheric expanse to sandbox around in while taking bites off the main linear storyline. The ships are wonderfully portrayed, the emerald seas are rolling and unforgiving at times and the ship to ship battles, including boarding and harpooning are well done and intense. I spend most of my time at sea in this game. Knowing the ground based AC game is still always there is really a lot of game for your dollar.

    I give this game a 9 out of 10 it deserves it. Its addictive and fun.    … Expand
  2. explodr
    Dec 27, 2013
    0
    I bought this game because it was rated highly and I liked the premises of the other Assassin Creed games. This was a mistake. As soon as I started the game, I noticed the graphics were not really that great, although the framerate was also not spectacular. The voice acting was okay, but the talking animations were lacking. When I try to run, the sticky auto-climbing mode makes it nearlyI bought this game because it was rated highly and I liked the premises of the other Assassin Creed games. This was a mistake. As soon as I started the game, I noticed the graphics were not really that great, although the framerate was also not spectacular. The voice acting was okay, but the talking animations were lacking. When I try to run, the sticky auto-climbing mode makes it nearly impossible to stay on the ground. The fighting mechanics also feel slow, virtual, and only require one button pressed rapidly for the most part. It's like if Mirror's Edge's manual freerunning was replaced by a system that does the acrobatics for you; there's no skill involved, and I don't feel like I've done anything significant.… Expand
  3. Mcwipenshiner
    Dec 25, 2013
    10
    I went into this game not expecting much, as in the past Assassin's Creed games were not as satisfying as I'd hoped. On the contrary, this game incorporates much more than just running around a city, climbing walls, and performing assassinations. Unlike it's predecessors, the game is actually very open and allows for the player to explore a vast world unseen in the franchise up to thisI went into this game not expecting much, as in the past Assassin's Creed games were not as satisfying as I'd hoped. On the contrary, this game incorporates much more than just running around a city, climbing walls, and performing assassinations. Unlike it's predecessors, the game is actually very open and allows for the player to explore a vast world unseen in the franchise up to this point. To be honest, I had lost much of my faith in the Assassin's Creed franchise due to it's previous lackluster titles, but AC4's Edward Kenway has restored hope for this series. The story itself draws you in and takes for a ride you would never expect. All in all, I would highly recommend this game to a friend, especially if you ever played and liked "Sid Meier's Pirates! 2".… Expand
  4. Chris989
    Dec 24, 2013
    10
    I had played 2 of the Assassin's Creed games before this and found them...wanting. From annoying control issues to lack of variety, they seemed to fall short of the ambition.

    This game, however, is brilliant. Brilliant as in a brilliant work it has faults many of the same that plagued the earlier games; Running to chase someone? Let me start climbing a wall you don't want to. Trying a    I had played 2 of the Assassin's Creed games before this and found them...wanting. From annoying control issues to lack of variety, they seemed to fall short of the ambition.

    This game, however, is brilliant. Brilliant as in a brilliant work it has faults many of the same that plagued the earlier games; Running to chase someone? Let me start climbing a wall you don't want to. Trying a stealth mission? Allow me to make your character do stuff you don't want him to just so you are discovered. The side plot outside the "dream" is hackneyed and uninspiring.

    But.

    The main game is the "pirate" game I have been waiting for since excitedly unpacking my ZX81 33 years ago. Sure, the sailing isn't realistic but neither are the land based parts. There are "mini games" that would have constituted a full game 8 years ago from the ship fleet management to the whale/shark hunting.

    Naval combat is a joy to play and the missions, varied.

    Some missions are too difficult I find the stealth/following simply too hard, but the game has so much else going for it that it doesn't annoy me in the same way as, say, GTA IV did.

    So, despite its flaws, I feel it would be churlish to give this game anything less than 10/10.

    I bought BF4 shortly before this. The game I keep coming back to is this and I *love* the BF series.

    I am enjoying the plot and the acting is, in the main, of a high standard.

    I alt tabbed out of the game to write this review so I'm off back now. It does this perfectly too and so far (touch wood) hasn't crashed once.    … Expand
  5. TheDeadGhost
    Dec 24, 2013
    9
    The Assassin's Creed series has had a hard time during the last few years, the first few games with Ezio and Altaïr were a huge success and a really fun, enjoyable experience. But during the last few years the experience has become less enjoyable due to a poor story and bugs and glitches. But this is a great kickstart to a brand new series of amazing and enjoyable new Assassin's CreedThe Assassin's Creed series has had a hard time during the last few years, the first few games with Ezio and Altaïr were a huge success and a really fun, enjoyable experience. But during the last few years the experience has become less enjoyable due to a poor story and bugs and glitches. But this is a great kickstart to a brand new series of amazing and enjoyable new Assassin's Creed games. I recommend Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag to anyone who is a fan of the Assassin's Creed series or pirates. This is also a great game for those who wish to get into the Assassin's Creed series because this is truly a new standard Ubisoft has set for their games.… Expand
  6. Banhammer0
    Dec 24, 2013
    7
    I tried to not feel disappointed on this one but I was. a lot. In some aspects Black Flag is an utter failure but in others it's amazingly well done and outshine the previous games in the series by far.
    The bad thing: Modern Abstergo plot
    I'm a fan of Assassin's Creed series and I think what they did with the plot is total BS. I'm talking about the modern-day plot not getting into    I tried to not feel disappointed on this one but I was. a lot. In some aspects Black Flag is an utter failure but in others it's amazingly well done and outshine the previous games in the series by far.
    The bad thing: Modern Abstergo plot
    I'm a fan of Assassin's Creed series and I think what they did with the plot is total BS. I'm talking about the modern-day plot not getting into spoilers here, it was absolutely terrible, both the idea and the execution of it. This was the most disappointing part.
    Another bad thing: GLITCHES, ARMY OF THEM
    Every part of the game is filled with minor glitches, patches fix a lot of them but it's super-common for camera to go crazy or the character having problems with scalling a 0,5 meters tall fence, or character falling to the ground in combat for no reason, or weapons clipping and animations desyncing...you get the idea I hope. It's just very rough on the edges.
    Last but not least: Controls
    It's obvious they are meant for consoles and they suck on PC. It's very hard to control character when free running or in combat. No target lock. Weird aiming (at least we finally have it implemented).

    Now to the good part: The World
    The world is HUUUGE. There are some reused assets but it's still a pleasure to explore new places and gather those little collectibles that I never cared about before.

    Also good: The visuals
    This game is beautiful and there is no denying of it, and it's pretty well optimized aside from some FPS issues, but I was able to almost max it out on GTX 570. Surprisingly good job Ubisoft.

    I'm not really going into details because you can google them...I don't care.
    Mixed feelings, best get it on sale.    … Expand
  7. d__b
    Dec 24, 2013
    5
    Basic of making next game in the series is improving on previous games. But Ubi managed to get it backward. Even if resulting game is still somewhat decent, it's still step backward in almost all areas.

    Even flag feature of this game sea combat, got wrose than in AC3. Even if combat system got expanded, it's irrelevant since sea fights are so easy now, and storms no longer cause waves    Basic of making next game in the series is improving on previous games. But Ubi managed to get it backward. Even if resulting game is still somewhat decent, it's still step backward in almost all areas.

    Even flag feature of this game sea combat, got wrose than in AC3. Even if combat system got expanded, it's irrelevant since sea fights are so easy now, and storms no longer cause waves big enough to matter(which was best part of sea combat in AC3, in my opinion). Yes, combat is enjoyable, but less so than it was in previous game. Also, "travel speed" at sea despite being "Animus-side speed to make travel fast" still maes most travels between points few minutes of boring screen staring.

    You remember hunting or crafting from AC3? Well, now hunting got reduced to "hunt 2 of each kind of animals, craft one thing per animal, forget about it". Harpooning is new minigame, I'm not so sure if it's good minigame, so in that case it might be good that you only need to do it few times per animal.

    Hideout present since AC2 is here too, it's big, but upgrading it is pretty much irrelevant, only serving as money sink. What's more, none of vanity collectibles actually affect any part of the world. You can upgrade your ship, sure, but it's like buying upgrades to yourself. Whole economy system present since AC2 is gone.
    Brotherhood gave us "your people", and here fleet takes this role, but it's bloody SimCity all again, play with "friends" or anything will take ages to do. Because Ubi couln't find good reason for their piracy-detergent of online requirement, they just turned part of game into "social" game.

    When you think difficulty hit rock bottom, here comes out another AC game to prove you wrong and define new bottom. In some cases, enemies will even ignore you murdering one of them right in front of them. Killing enemies with gun rarely makes anyone react at all. Only good change in that department is whistling now you have to whistle for a while before guard decides to og investigate, making picking them off one by one less reliable.

    Older games used to have optional missions that were one big jumping puzzle. If you strain youself, you might find one or at most two of those in this game. Historical places? Not in this setting. Beuitifull cities? Not in this setting. Huge buildings to climb? Not in this setting. Collectibles? Well, some are hidden. Most of them are at sea and main challenge is to not say "screw it" and not spend hours sailing from point to point to jump ship, swim to island, pick it up from ground, get back to sihp and repeat.

    Characters? Hmph. Your out-of-Animus character is nobody, he does not speak, has no motivation, could not find any mirror so not sure if he even has actual body. He's just getting used by everyone around him, like a tool. As for in-Animus... Ezio started as a rash youth, and grew. Connor started as kid, and grew a lot. Edward starts as badass without clear motivation or character, and remains as such pretty much whole game.

    Story there is no story. There is some pirating "do what we want" story, small Assassin substory, but overall, it's just "do random things and maybe you stumble across something relevant to this or that plot".

    It's PC version, ported from console, so optimization is terrible, and graphic settings are lacking. There is no gamma correction, so everything is so freaking bright that you just can't see some things during the day. But, at least they enabled mouse control so you can actually select tings on map with mouse, instead of moving map around to center relevant icon and select it.

    Overall, it's not bad game, if it was not part of AC series but standalone pirate game, it could be decent 8 or even 9, depending how "assassiny" elements of game would be substituted. But as part of series, it's worst Creed ever released. So far.    … Expand
  8. vangomaextreme
    Dec 23, 2013
    7
    This is for all those poor souls like me who have a low end PC that supposedly doesn't quite meet minimum requirements (my case Nividia 630M and i7 2.3 Ghz) but who really enjoy the series and feel bummed that they can't play this game. If you optimize for the lowest settings it still looks pretty good and although the framerate can dip occasionally it is actually playable. So if youThis is for all those poor souls like me who have a low end PC that supposedly doesn't quite meet minimum requirements (my case Nividia 630M and i7 2.3 Ghz) but who really enjoy the series and feel bummed that they can't play this game. If you optimize for the lowest settings it still looks pretty good and although the framerate can dip occasionally it is actually playable. So if you love the series and are willing to shell out it is a fun experience and you can get pretty much the same enjoyment that everyone else is getting just be prepared to make some sacrifices and have the occasional frustration. If you can handle that then you will get to see a fairly remarkable game and enjoy it till like me you can afford your next rig. Besides even people with super duper rigs seem to be having optimization problems so it could be it has just been poorly optimized in general. Bottom line on low end machines it is playable with some sacrifices!… Expand
  9. Galaroth
    Dec 23, 2013
    10
    The last few Assassin's Creed games hasn't been so satisfying, but THIS one goes straight to the top on the list of awesome games! I really enjoyed this game and find myself still playing after completing the main quest, because i want to keep plundering, fighting and improve my ship. The main story line was extremely good. The entire game itself was incredible, everything in the game justThe last few Assassin's Creed games hasn't been so satisfying, but THIS one goes straight to the top on the list of awesome games! I really enjoyed this game and find myself still playing after completing the main quest, because i want to keep plundering, fighting and improve my ship. The main story line was extremely good. The entire game itself was incredible, everything in the game just makes sense, and is so well done.… Expand
  10. Qieth
    Dec 22, 2013
    9
    I've been with Assassin's Creed since the blunder that was AC1. To see it evolve into such a comprehensive game over the years is an amazing experience. Black Flag offers more of the same. A lot more. And it's all pick and choose to do what you like. You can get through most of the game without having to deal with things you don't want to, but if you enjoy exploring the waters, there isI've been with Assassin's Creed since the blunder that was AC1. To see it evolve into such a comprehensive game over the years is an amazing experience. Black Flag offers more of the same. A lot more. And it's all pick and choose to do what you like. You can get through most of the game without having to deal with things you don't want to, but if you enjoy exploring the waters, there is plenty for you to see.

    The ship combat is very enjoyable. I didn't like the cumbersome ship combat in AC3, but it's very different in Black Flag. It's smooth, engaging and entertaining. The story is good, the characters are well written and the sheer scale of the world is mindboggling.

    It's like GTA with boats!    … Expand
  11. Blackcompany
    Dec 22, 2013
    4
    A good open world pirate game that could have been better, hampered by the same tired, frustrating "mission structure" we see in every AC game. The constant need to do exactly as Ubisoft demands hinders the fun in exploring this visually gorgeous game world, and the frustrating mission types, such as Eavesdropping and Tailing, are far, far too frequent, and over-used. The weather system isA good open world pirate game that could have been better, hampered by the same tired, frustrating "mission structure" we see in every AC game. The constant need to do exactly as Ubisoft demands hinders the fun in exploring this visually gorgeous game world, and the frustrating mission types, such as Eavesdropping and Tailing, are far, far too frequent, and over-used. The weather system is also frustrating, as the developers tend to overuse storms on the open sea in order to make missions feel more "dramatic."

    Black Flag is a game that would have been far, far better, had it not needed the Assassin's Creed name attached at all. This is Assassin's Creed ruining what could otherwise have been a great pirate game.    … Expand
  12. DrZed
    Dec 22, 2013
    8
    Oh my gosh... assassin´s creed is getting more boring again. First ones were pretty good and AC 3 was the best, but these "pirate thingies" are not so good. Oh yeah... the game also gets easier and more boring, but still... they did a good job.
  13. FPSSucks
    Dec 22, 2013
    9
    This game is fantastic. The world is large, beautiful and full of different things to do. Story mode is fun (Even though the actual story is weak) The Muti-Player has many enjoyable things to do, even introducing the new 'Game Lab' feature where you can make your own game mode. I recommend this game, BUY IT!!
  14. JTyran
    Dec 20, 2013
    8
    This was the one of the first Assassin's Creed games to interest me in a long time, visually the game is great looking and the detail in the world both on land and at sea is superb. I would have liked a variable difficulty setting though, even though I do not play 3rd person fighting games often and lack experience in them the combat is far to easy. Eddy can fight off whole packs of enemyThis was the one of the first Assassin's Creed games to interest me in a long time, visually the game is great looking and the detail in the world both on land and at sea is superb. I would have liked a variable difficulty setting though, even though I do not play 3rd person fighting games often and lack experience in them the combat is far to easy. Eddy can fight off whole packs of enemy soldiers with little difficulty, the same applies to the sea combat. At first taking on the larger ships like Frigates and Man'o'wars is challenging but once you get a firm of the combat and upgrade your ship you can single handily take on several Man'o'wars and their escorts. Only the four non respawning "legendary" ships provide a challenge after that.

    I would have liked some crew management options too, having to take care of the Jackdaws crew and their morale is strangely missing. Criticisms aside though the game is a lot of fun with varied missions and some really thematic set pieces like trying to slowly stealthily sail your ship down a narrow and foggy bayou avoiding watchtowers or fighting running battles through Havana and trying to escape back to your ship through a burning town as the Royal Navy bombard the port you are hiding at. There are loads of side activities to do like the naval assassination missions where you do everything from sinking ships to boarding a ship to kill its captain or escorting another ship past its enemies. There are various land assassination side missions too, some are in cities and others you have to sail to a lonely cove or hidden smuggling den.

    You can go hunting to collect items for crafting to improve Kenways equipment or make new outfits and hunt on both land at sea, there is a large multi part quest to collect items to unlock a unique piece of armour as well as many other collectibles with unique rewards. The highest end ship upgrades for instance need you to collect the plans and blueprints, you even need to use a diving bell and dive to ship wrecks for some of them. You can capture some of the ships you take and add them to your fleet, your fleet is a strategic mini game where you can send ships on trade or diplomatic missions and take part in turn based fleet battles. The fleet missions also earn you cash, collectibles and upgrade items. There is a huge amount of content in this game as well as the main storyline and I have got nearly 40 hours of gameplay out of it so far, even though I am only 50% or so through the main story so far so good. There are some interesting and iconic characters and the writing and voice acting is good.    … Expand
  15. Bionic-Reviewer
    Dec 20, 2013
    10
    Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is a good game. Combat is good, plenty to do after beating the storyline. There are some bugs, but nothing too gamebreaking. The storyline takes a while to leave the "Pirate doing pirate-y stuff with pirate-y friends" phase, though its still fun and the ending was good. Edward started out rather flat as a character, but grew more complex later. Ship combatAssassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is a good game. Combat is good, plenty to do after beating the storyline. There are some bugs, but nothing too gamebreaking. The storyline takes a while to leave the "Pirate doing pirate-y stuff with pirate-y friends" phase, though its still fun and the ending was good. Edward started out rather flat as a character, but grew more complex later. Ship combat is intuitive, and boarding is fun. My only complaint is that the framerate an take a hit during some larger boarding procedures such as Man of War and Frigate attacks. Overall, good game, but don't come in expecting the same sort of story as AC III.… Expand
  16. prototype3276
    Dec 19, 2013
    10
    A great game, very enjoyable, I think the reason why some people disliked the sequel or ""prequel"' was because the game was mostly based around pirates rather than assassins. but personally this did not bother me. I really enjoyed this game, and I think its one of the best assassins creed that has been released in a while. also, beautiful graphics
  17. taygor
    Dec 18, 2013
    9
    I have not played any of the previous versions of Assassin's Creed, but I have become hooked on Black Flag. The graphics are awesome and the story engaging, the only reason it doesn't get a 10 is because the missions and tasks become somewhat repetitive once you get into the meat of the story. Well worth the buy!
  18. gerszom
    Dec 17, 2013
    9
    Definitely the best Assassin's game ever. Main character is much more convincing than Connor. I like the Pirates times better also. Gameplay is marvelous. Especially on see. This is one big innovation. Plot is quite nice, and You won't get bored. It is a pearl for every Pirates and Assassins fun. I miss good old Sid Meier's Pirates! this game is like a surrogate to me. I had many greatDefinitely the best Assassin's game ever. Main character is much more convincing than Connor. I like the Pirates times better also. Gameplay is marvelous. Especially on see. This is one big innovation. Plot is quite nice, and You won't get bored. It is a pearl for every Pirates and Assassins fun. I miss good old Sid Meier's Pirates! this game is like a surrogate to me. I had many great hours with Black Flag. And i don't regret even a minute playing this.… Expand
  19. detrios
    Dec 17, 2013
    10
    I played assassins'creed one, and give up in 1hour, and I not play the other... I'm a pirate fan, and I bought black flag, and it's incredible, the naval battle are a game in the game, I love it, it's very immersive, the fight is nervous.
    We buy first for playing in multi with my brother, but we are both in solo for the naval combat ;)
    it's a good experiance to live with a good graphic    I played assassins'creed one, and give up in 1hour, and I not play the other... I'm a pirate fan, and I bought black flag, and it's incredible, the naval battle are a game in the game, I love it, it's very immersive, the fight is nervous.
    We buy first for playing in multi with my brother, but we are both in solo for the naval combat ;)
    it's a good experiance to live with a good graphic card.
    the hater are assassin's creed fan, but for other player, it's a game to own    … Expand
  20. Seryin
    Dec 16, 2013
    9
    This game loses a SINGLE point from me for its lack of PC optimization. As much as I enjoyed the Black Flag experience, I cannot ignore that. Ubisoft definitely needs to shift some focus towards making their games more enjoyable across a broader range of machines.
    Looking beyond the obvious optimization flaws for PC, everything else was phenomenal!
    AC4 carries over all the things that    This game loses a SINGLE point from me for its lack of PC optimization. As much as I enjoyed the Black Flag experience, I cannot ignore that. Ubisoft definitely needs to shift some focus towards making their games more enjoyable across a broader range of machines.
    Looking beyond the obvious optimization flaws for PC, everything else was phenomenal!

    AC4 carries over all the things that made the past titles a success, but it was the story of this installment that absolutely blew me away!
    However, I can't help but realize that if I did not have a prior knowledge of the Golden Age of Piracy, that I would not have been able to understand, or enjoy, the story as much as I did. For instance, several scenes seem to expect you to know what will happen next to someone considering the tone, even though the game never touches on it itself. I would have never known what happened to Stede Bonnet if it was not for my history class, and it added a lot of impact and drama to an otherwise uneventful moment.
    If you were already familiar with popular figures from the Golden Age of Piracy, like Teach, Rackham, Bonnet, Vane, Black Bart, and Anne Bonny, your going to be blown away by this re-imagining of their stories.

    Despite the enormous amount of entertainment I got out of this game, I definitely want to critique a few key points for the sake of future improvement; The Island that you consider home and can invest resources in to improve, Inagua, is just as useless and unrewarding as the Homestead feature from AC3. They need to do more with these places of interest; Spending 90% of the game on the high seas, it was extremely disappointing that the ship Haythem took at the beginning of AC3 was still more detailed than the Jackdaw. You cannot enter the inside of the ship, and the only recognizable and unique person in your crew is Adéwale from the upcoming DLC himself. It would have added much more depth to be able to have familiar faces on the ship to feel more connected to and protective of; And also, Kenway's Fleet. This trade/revenue system was similiar to the old ones, but tedious and boring compared to the trade system and assassins guild from AC3.
    Those were the 3 things I had really wanted more from in Black Flag; A more rewarding and innovative homestead feature; A better detailed crew and ship to sail with; And a less tedious Kenway's Fleet feature.

    ALSO: Multiplayer is still amazing to play in this installment. AC Multiplayer is an incredible and unique experience that too many AC players overlook.    … Expand
  21. goodlordcz
    Dec 15, 2013
    8
    Assassin's Creed IV stands out in game play and environment, because it is based on pirate culture. Just sailing your ship around, boarding other ships and unlocking new stuff makes the game really fun to play. The story is still pretty good, but it doesn't really have anything to do with the previous games, like AC II. The Assassin order doesn't really have too much influence on theAssassin's Creed IV stands out in game play and environment, because it is based on pirate culture. Just sailing your ship around, boarding other ships and unlocking new stuff makes the game really fun to play. The story is still pretty good, but it doesn't really have anything to do with the previous games, like AC II. The Assassin order doesn't really have too much influence on the story, so AC IV is not exactly a sequel to the previous games. It also offers you some nice graphics, but the performance sometimes is really bad. You will need to have a really good computer to get to the max out of the graphics.
    AC IV has its bad moments, but it is still an excellent game that you should consider buying.    … Expand
  22. NoWanga
    Dec 13, 2013
    0
    This is my Multiplayer review.

    The development of the multiplayer with AC has been right in par with its single player, steadily decreasing. I first multiplayer had some issues, and as they resolved them over time they just created new ones. The scores are basically arbitrary, they make sense in theory until some gets 1200 points for poisoning someone in the first 2 seconds of the    This is my Multiplayer review.

    The development of the multiplayer with AC has been right in par with its single player, steadily decreasing. I first multiplayer had some issues, and as they resolved them over time they just created new ones. The scores are basically arbitrary, they make sense in theory until some gets 1200 points for poisoning someone in the first 2 seconds of the game, or getting 600 points for someones you literally runs right into them. Essentially AC multiplayer is Brink, a fantastic idea that never really landed    … Expand
  23. Alby94play
    Dec 12, 2013
    3
    Take ACIII, add guns, boats and some palm trees and TA-DA!! you have Black Flag... sad, really sad...
    Another garbage sequel for a series lost years ago...
  24. Apojuice
    Dec 11, 2013
    10
    I have poured hours of gameplay into this game and feel like there is still so much to do. Long games that are of a good quality are rare to find nowadays. Assassins Creed 4 is a master in stealing your time. Once you take the helm upon your trusted vessel and throw caution to the wind as you and your band of pirates sail, plunder and drink your way through a gorgeous virtual recreation ofI have poured hours of gameplay into this game and feel like there is still so much to do. Long games that are of a good quality are rare to find nowadays. Assassins Creed 4 is a master in stealing your time. Once you take the helm upon your trusted vessel and throw caution to the wind as you and your band of pirates sail, plunder and drink your way through a gorgeous virtual recreation of the Caribbean. The graphics are gorgeous on the highest settings and the world never fails to completely immerse you every time you decide to captain the Jackdaw. The ship and ground sections are like playing two different games but they cross-over seamlessly as you can see when boarding another ship. The free-running is also much improved but it still suffers from being a bit imprecise at times. The Underwater segments are amazing and thrilling, a mix of treasure hunting and stealth parts. Overall I think this is my GOTY. I hope Ubisoft keeps this kind of innovation going because if they do, franchising Assassins Creed might not be so bad after all.… Expand
  25. Sk3z
    Dec 11, 2013
    9
    Ok, naval combat is arcade, not simulation. Yes the mechanics are the same as usual, with very few innovations. Yes the game feels easy most of the times since you can counter anything and so on...

    Still this game has some magic, even with it's flaws. AC titles have always been full of details and this one it's way the better by this criteria. Some missions are boring, and the    Ok, naval combat is arcade, not simulation. Yes the mechanics are the same as usual, with very few innovations. Yes the game feels easy most of the times since you can counter anything and so on...

    Still this game has some magic, even with it's flaws.
    AC titles have always been full of details and this one it's way the better by this criteria. Some missions are boring, and the achievement madness is still there.
    Gameplay is good because it may totally be affected by one fundamental thing: the way you want to play it. You can win missions in a ton of ways, and you may enjoy the aspects of game the way you prefer. The game is incredibly polished, and the story BEHIND what's going on in the caribbean (if you don't know, every AC game is set on a double world, the present and the past) keeps you there wanting to get new material and unveil the facts you are still not aware of. In the game itself you'll find many many things to do, and most importantly, you'll see BEAUTY... Yes, i mean it. Frankly, i'm a huge fan of pirate themed stuff. I played every game on this theme, and while every each one had it's pro and cons, none had the thing that i enjoyed the most on this title: The feeling of being deep in the pirate era: the landscapes of the isles, are them big and covered with vegetation or loose low sand ones... the pirate crew singing pirate-ish songs (or not, while you can mute them with a screamed order!) while cruising through the waves of an late foggy dawn... Cruising your ship in a huge storm or through a placid clear sea... all these things are priceless.

    If i where to compare this game with other titles, i really would say this game should be put in the league of Skyrim, while being HUGELY better. Since the latter is aswell a game for exploration, history and arcade combat, i think the comparison should be true. This game won't leave you disappointed if you are seeking for something beautiful to try. Still, if you already played earlyer AC games and are seeking for something dramatically new, then you may not find it. The work have been done in other directions, clearly.

    For those arguing this is a bad port, you may not listen to them. Yes, this title may be ported, but you would not see that. This game is well ported, no bugs or annoying feature, and i won't say more.

    MULTYPLAYER: the multyplayer mode it's quite chaotic. Since i've not tried that deeply i'll only say that there have clearly been done a lot of work around it. It has potential.

    GAME CONS: While being an huge game full of content, as someone said sometimes it feels repetitive. You don't see this only in the scripted missions which are very similar most of the time, but also in the models. I believe that both the necessity to sell it for consoles and the vastness of things to be crafted and polished, led to a general lacking of variety in each one of the many aspects of the game (ship models for example).

    GENERAL CONS: Game has it's downs too. For instance Ubisoft force you to start the game through his annoying "Uplay" service, (yet if you want to play it offline you can, but without the special content you may have bought; "hey ubisoft, i've payed for it, what do you mean i cant unlock it offline? are you mocking me?" I won't argue politics here, i will only say that i had to literally fight with the Uplay software to make it work, since it was not working in the beginning (some conflicts with system files). Also, the game is clearly full of buyable content, making you wonder how much of it would be in the game itself if this marketing trend where not so fully adopted by the company.

    BIGGEST CON of the game, to me, was the general feeling that the lack of modding support, make this a ruined masterpiece. It's like you wonder if something like this game could be modded to be enriched, or converted into a simulation game... This game is so near to what i've always dreamed about, that it frustrates me so much. Why so few ships? Why fantasy ships? Why frigate on spanish army? Where are the Dutch, the French and the portuguese? Why wheren't you able to put accourate historically ships ingame? are you kidding, ship rams? Why can't i switch a captured ship with mine? Why so limited access to the ship itself? why only 5 things to trade? Why aren't there different types of cannonballs? You'll keep asking yourself these questions againg and againg.

    but you will enjoy the game nonetheless.

    9 out of 10 for me. (I am really surprised myself to have found a game so entertaining).    … Expand
  26. idohaker
    Dec 11, 2013
    10
    in my opinion the best assassins creed game in the franchise, although the game is bad optimized for pc i could run it on a 50-60 fps on ultra 1680x1050 with my r9 290, the story is well written, the game is dark and heavy, the gameplay is much improved, the characters are good, and the naval combat is better than ever, i loved ac3 and gave it a 10/10 and most of you didnt like my opinionin my opinion the best assassins creed game in the franchise, although the game is bad optimized for pc i could run it on a 50-60 fps on ultra 1680x1050 with my r9 290, the story is well written, the game is dark and heavy, the gameplay is much improved, the characters are good, and the naval combat is better than ever, i loved ac3 and gave it a 10/10 and most of you didnt like my opinion but for me ac3 is now 7/10 compared to this, but i am giving you a warning, this game is very bad optimized and i guess not everyone have a card like r9 290 or gtx 780 so if you have a low end card stay away from this game, i tried the game on my other pc with a low end card and it was very slow and unplayble, but for the end assassins creed iv is the best in the franchise and i reccomend it to everyone that have a decent pc that can run the game on 30 fps on any setting, (if you want to know check your card benchmark on ac iv in youtube)the best in the franchise in my opinion… Expand
  27. Jackl3
    Dec 11, 2013
    5
    Excellent atmosphere.

    After playing all the Assassins Creeds, this felt a little different but not enough. After destroying a few ships, seeing the same surrender animation, the same faced enemies... it's breaking the immersion. Terrible re-used and over-use of the same cut-scenes/animations. Nothing changes, nothing is a challenge. Missions are the same as usual. Combat is    Excellent atmosphere.

    After playing all the Assassins Creeds, this felt a little different but not enough.

    After destroying a few ships, seeing the same surrender animation, the same faced enemies... it's breaking the immersion.

    Terrible re-used and over-use of the same cut-scenes/animations. Nothing changes, nothing is a challenge.

    Missions are the same as usual.

    Combat is still so-so.

    5/10 in my opinion.    … Expand
  28. fox294
    Dec 10, 2013
    8
    I wish I could give this game two scores.

    The pirate (in-animus) part of the game is pretty great. In fact, the parts that focus on simply being a scallywag and scoundrel on the high seas are phenomenal. Ultimately, the game itself gets weighed down under the weight of the assinine and trite Assassin's Creed mythos and loses steam. Even so, the fantastic attention to detail and the    I wish I could give this game two scores.

    The pirate (in-animus) part of the game is pretty great. In fact, the parts that focus on simply being a scallywag and scoundrel on the high seas are phenomenal. Ultimately, the game itself gets weighed down under the weight of the assinine and trite Assassin's Creed mythos and loses steam. Even so, the fantastic attention to detail and the euphoria of piracy are enough to earn a solid 8.5.

    BUT. The Abstergo (out-of-animus) portion of the game is an abomination. Every second I spent outside the animus was a moment of my life I'll never get back. I felt like Ubisoft was shoving this nonsense down my throat. If anyone at Ubisoft happens to read this, here's a message: NO ONE CARES ABOUT ASSASSINS, TEMPLARS, OR ABSTERGO. STOP MAKING ME RUN AROUND AN OFFICE BUILDING WHEN I COULD BE SWASHBUCKLING. 0/10 for this part.    … Expand
  29. REDPhantomPie
    Dec 10, 2013
    9
    When I first saw the trailer, it was epic and make me wanna play it more. And when i played the game, it was awesome, the gameplay, the graphics and stuff but there is something about the PC version is that it's not optimized for the PC so I get lags and have to play it on low graphic settings. But all in all, the naval combat, combat, stealth, storyline, gameplay was awesome. I say it's aWhen I first saw the trailer, it was epic and make me wanna play it more. And when i played the game, it was awesome, the gameplay, the graphics and stuff but there is something about the PC version is that it's not optimized for the PC so I get lags and have to play it on low graphic settings. But all in all, the naval combat, combat, stealth, storyline, gameplay was awesome. I say it's a must buy.… Expand
  30. Arrahant
    Dec 10, 2013
    8
    It's great to be in an open world 18th century pirate world; treasure maps, naval battling, black flags with skulls on them: it's all in here and it's simply amazing.
    Sadly the game is way too easy: combat is very easy if you counter timely, the sneaking mechanics are very basic and predictable, and enemy AI is weak. Also, the game holds the player by the hand way too much. I like the    It's great to be in an open world 18th century pirate world; treasure maps, naval battling, black flags with skulls on them: it's all in here and it's simply amazing.
    Sadly the game is way too easy: combat is very easy if you counter timely, the sneaking mechanics are very basic and predictable, and enemy AI is weak. Also, the game holds the player by the hand way too much. I like the feeling of finding things out by myself (yet it does make the game accessible). Nevertheless, being in this brilliantly crafted world still makes for a 8/10 game imo!    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

31
#31 Best PC Game of 2013
15
#15 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
16
#16 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. GameCritics
    Mar 5, 2014
    60
    Ironically enough for a game which centers around the concept of genetic ancestry, however, it continually lets itself down by refusing to break away from its own tired and worn-out heritage,
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  2. DarkZero
    Jan 16, 2014
    90
    Fans that were bummed out by Assassin’s Creed III will most likely find Black Flag to be a welcoming return to what they love about the series, with a great story, amazingly crafted world and smart additions to the sailing that make it a refreshing part of the Assassin’s Creed formula.
    Read full review
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Dec 30, 2013
    90
    Makes up for the failings of AC3, delivering a fantastic, engaging open world experience. [Jan 2014, p.78]
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