Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2658 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,006 out of 2658
  2. Mixed: 448 out of 2658
  3. Negative: 204 out of 2658
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  1. danield80
    Jun 28, 2020
    7
    The sailing part of the game is perfect, entertaining, satisfying.
    The part on foot is worse than in other older and newer ac games. Too simple "run from-bush-to-bush" sneaking, easy combat. Uninspiring assassinations. Most of the missions are "tail" and "eavesdrop." The story is being incessantly interrupted by some "I don't care about" present day chapters.
    Pity, considering the on sea    The sailing part of the game is perfect, entertaining, satisfying.
    The part on foot is worse than in other older and newer ac games. Too simple "run from-bush-to-bush" sneaking, easy combat. Uninspiring assassinations. Most of the missions are "tail" and "eavesdrop." The story is being incessantly interrupted by some "I don't care about" present day chapters.
    Pity, considering the on sea missions are awesome, the graphics are great (for 2013). Ubisoft should've made a new IP only about the sailing. But that wouldn't make that much profit as ac game would do.
    7.7/10    … Expand
  2. barren_sky
    Dec 14, 2013
    6
    I've tried every Assassin's Creed game, and generally walk away very disappointed by the poor mission structures and repetitiveness of what's asked of you. I've never been able to push myself to finish a single one.
    That said, this game is a real love/hate for me. I hate most of the campaign missions, where you sneak along behind someone to listen to their conversation, or chase someone    I've tried every Assassin's Creed game, and generally walk away very disappointed by the poor mission structures and repetitiveness of what's asked of you. I've never been able to push myself to finish a single one.
    That said, this game is a real love/hate for me. I hate most of the campaign missions, where you sneak along behind someone to listen to their conversation, or chase someone through the game's glitchy and often infuriating "parkour" system. But I love the high seas bits. The sea shanties sung by your crew, the intense battles, the feeling of wanderlust. I wish this amazing pirate adventure wasn't stapled to yet another boring Assassin's Creed game. I had a lot of fun with this game, but didn't get past the fourth or so campaign mission before trading it in.    … Expand
  3. flax0174
    Apr 18, 2014
    5
    Where do i begin, the setting is very welcoming and colourful, the characters are quite well written with some believable dialogue. There are plenty of things to do but as with many none rpg games they get extremely repetitive with silly trivial and tedious items to collect, and other menial tasks like escort missions and killing a certain amount of enemies. The controls are extremelyWhere do i begin, the setting is very welcoming and colourful, the characters are quite well written with some believable dialogue. There are plenty of things to do but as with many none rpg games they get extremely repetitive with silly trivial and tedious items to collect, and other menial tasks like escort missions and killing a certain amount of enemies. The controls are extremely irritating and inconsistent, you have to do things in increments, you cant play the game in a fluid manner, for example upon defeating a enemy ship, and are about to board you walk up to your swivel gun mounted on the side of the ship and you cant press the interact button straight away you have to wait for about a second for your character to come to a halt then do so. It gets so infuriating. your character gets stuck to walls and ledges when you don't want to, it practically ruins the game alone. The graphics are ridiculous for a new generation of console, cause its cheaper for ubisoft to use a old engine than produce a new one. There are many auto save glitches as well i was at 33% then the next time i booted up the game it was at 25% i lost about 8-10 hours of progress so after that i just sold it back. The storyline is ridiculously far fetched and pathetic. I wanted to like it really, but it was wrought with repetition and frustration.… Expand
  4. tborney25
    Sep 7, 2014
    5
    AC3 over AC4
    I think that this is a wonderful game in terms of graphics but I think everything else was horrible. Being on the water was one of the worst experiences and this was really downgrade from AC3. The missions and side missions were not intriguing especially the ones on the water. AC3 was fine because only a tiny bit of the game was on the sea so it was sort of a nice change yet    AC3 over AC4
    I think that this is a wonderful game in terms of graphics but I think everything else was horrible. Being on the water was one of the worst experiences and this was really downgrade from AC3. The missions and side missions were not intriguing especially the ones on the water. AC3 was fine because only a tiny bit of the game was on the sea so it was sort of a nice change yet I wouldn't applaud it. The fighting was way too easy, anyone could take out a group of 1,000,000 guys by them self! The game forced you to play the missions and not just roam around because if you did you couldn't do anything! If you make a game like that at least make the missions fun! you didn't need any strategy or be stealthy at all you could just run right into a fort. AC3 over AC4    … Expand
  5. jacoforma
    Nov 25, 2013
    5
    As a big fan of the AC series and a huge supporter of AC3 I can say I'm massively disappointed in AC4. Nothing has improved since AC3 and worse yet things actually degraded. Let's start with simple water graphics. They went from beautiful and realistic last-gen to looking like, well, AIR in the current gen. Swimming will give you the impression you're flying. It's embarrassing. Also,As a big fan of the AC series and a huge supporter of AC3 I can say I'm massively disappointed in AC4. Nothing has improved since AC3 and worse yet things actually degraded. Let's start with simple water graphics. They went from beautiful and realistic last-gen to looking like, well, AIR in the current gen. Swimming will give you the impression you're flying. It's embarrassing. Also, fighting did not improve at all. It's still basically a turn-based system where multiple opponents will wait for you to finish with the current opponent. The biggest step back is the ship fighting. AC3 made ship fighting a blast with sailors yelling and cannons booming. AC4, however, makes ship fighting a quiet and boring affair that will make you want to pop the AC3 disk back in. Me sad.… Expand
  6. cimerians
    Mar 13, 2014
    6
    I'm new and I know nothing of Assassin's Creed. My take:

    The game mostly assume's you are familiar with the AC games, you will find yourself wondering about the modern day desk job cutscene and sometimes wondering where to go and what to do. The sync thing isn't explained (where the map reveals itself slowly) among other things. So expect to wonder about things and how things work the    I'm new and I know nothing of Assassin's Creed. My take:

    The game mostly assume's you are familiar with the AC games, you will find yourself wondering about the modern day desk job cutscene and sometimes wondering where to go and what to do. The sync thing isn't explained (where the map reveals itself slowly) among other things. So expect to wonder about things and how things work the first few hours of the game. I asked a friend to fill me in a bit and that helped.

    Basically its a pirate world with things to collect and things to kill. Not much else.

    The world is pretty but everything feels static. Nothing is really interactive. Its nice to have a colorful vibrant world but for me it didnt seem real or immersive. Mainly because I felt like I was a superhero running around in the city filled with automatons who did basically nothing. Nobody moves or acts like you so it makes the whole thing seem fake. It's hard to explain.

    Its fun at times but more often that not I got bored. If you love collecting things and killing things then this game is pretty good (or if you love pirates). Personally I found the enemiespeople rather stupid and easy to "assassinate". Basically walk right up to them and click the "assassinate" button and your done. Rinse, repeat. There's the occasion where you chase after some normal person who hops around roofs better than you do and also another side activity like waiting patiently to pounce upon or chase some flying musical note.

    The storyline and stealth game play leave much to be desired. Its absurd but I can see it being fun for some people, maybe just not for me.    … Expand
  7. wavylife
    Mar 20, 2014
    6
    This game is repetitive and boring. Having to sail hours of your life away is by no means fun. AC2 remains the only game I have enjoyed to the end in this series.
  8. amonarith
    Dec 12, 2013
    5
    In a small summary:
    BEST sea game ever, hands down.
    a very AVERAGE assassins creed game, absolutely nothing special other than what is in the sailing and WORST pirate game I've ever played. The absolute worst and most disappointing thing about this game is they will never be able to redo this. I understand that the whole open world sailing was an ENORMOUS accomplishment, that aspect    In a small summary:
    BEST sea game ever, hands down.
    a very AVERAGE assassins creed game, absolutely nothing special other than what is in the sailing
    and WORST pirate game I've ever played.

    The absolute worst and most disappointing thing about this game is they will never be able to redo this. I understand that the whole open world sailing was an ENORMOUS accomplishment, that aspect was absolutely fabulous. In no way am I knocking that, but I have to say there were three things about this game that in my opinion made it go from what could have been a 10 to a 6.5.

    The assassins story was way too rushed and way too little. There is almost 0 character building, I'm not saying characters dont develop, but there is no building up to it, suddenly with no story things vastly change. (compared to ac3, id give 5/5 for story and this 3/5)
    The Pirate story was the real death of this game in my opinion. Kenway is clearly more of a pirate than a templar, yet his wardobe is assassin, which..I understand, but give it a pirate kick to it, for god's sake at least give the man a captains hat when your in his status. Then the fact that all of the pirates are friends...that was a knife to the heart. I know how disappointed i was at the lack of drunkards running around, of other pirates trying to steal from you; of gun shots in the streets of tortuga or ANYTHING piratey. It was pretty much just like any other ac game except sailing ships, and seeing other famous pirates. I at least really can't explain enough how entirely I was disappointed by the pirate story. There should have been two main stories going on side by side, his two lives being shown instead of craming them together in an extremely half assed way.
    Lastly, the grpahics were great, sure. In my opinion though that doesnt mean much when they cant include such simple and small things such as when I wear armor that doesnt have a hood, dont have the cut and paste action of him pulling his hood up. That the way that blackbeard talks about you in the intro you would think that people would treat you the way they fear, children and women should run, the guards should know who you are all the time with no way from relieving you of that other than staying in pirate territory.

    All in all, i would play ac3 for the fourth time before ac4 the second. Solely because of how disappointing how short and small the game was after all the hype, and how horrible they did with the pirate side.    … Expand
  9. RealMuthaF
    Oct 6, 2018
    6
    So, after roughly 4 years of abstinence, I've decided to go back to the AC franchise where I left off. And, unsurprisingly, Black Flag turns out to be a mere reskin of AC3 that had come out just a year before it.

    The core gameplay is exactly the same as before - parkour, dull combat and expanded ship fights. The ships were already there in AC3, here they just replace horses as a means    So, after roughly 4 years of abstinence, I've decided to go back to the AC franchise where I left off. And, unsurprisingly, Black Flag turns out to be a mere reskin of AC3 that had come out just a year before it.

    The core gameplay is exactly the same as before - parkour, dull combat and expanded ship fights. The ships were already there in AC3, here they just replace horses as a means of traveling between cities. As a result, we get a pretty cool sailor atmosphere, although it's all ruined by the game's repetitiveness. It's pretty great to board an enemy ship and bring its crew to their knees, but on the 30-50th time? Not so much. Same goes for underwater swimming, whale hunting and the rest of the mini-games AC IV offers. The 3 main cities themselves are largely unremarkable, and, what I found very disappointing, are not connected to the main open world - whenever you approach a city, there's a loading screen.

    The story and characters are among the worst of the franchise - Kenway is a dull stereotypical scoundrel type with a heart of gold, who predictably and implausibly changes his ways closer to endgame. All of the side cast are boring pirates who do pirate stuff - drink rum, argue and kill people. It's cool that they're based off real historical figures, but with such poor writing I couldn't care less about the forced drama associated with some of them. And the main plot is also unbearably boring - you start looking for yet another "precursor" artifact, then spend half the missions doing filler sh*t like searching for supplies for your bland pirate friends, then you get back to looking for the artifact. Amazing.

    So, to sum up, this game is a mediocre oversized DLC for Assassin's Creed 3 with a ridiculously poor story, same gameplay and a cool atmosphere than runs out due to repetitiveness. It doesn't deserve a "IV" in its title and I can't believe why some people on the Web would count this as one of the franchise's best. Had I played this right after AC3, my score would've been even lower.    … Expand
  10. tjames1986
    Dec 12, 2013
    5
    This is the most fun I've had playing an Assassin's Creed game, but like the other titles, the absurd and heavy-handed narrative get's in the way of all the fun. The combat is mindless and boring, and the occasional dramatic woosh & slow-motion finishing move is a needless distraction to the obscene unilateral violence I'm dolling out. The story missions are tedious, the difficultyThis is the most fun I've had playing an Assassin's Creed game, but like the other titles, the absurd and heavy-handed narrative get's in the way of all the fun. The combat is mindless and boring, and the occasional dramatic woosh & slow-motion finishing move is a needless distraction to the obscene unilateral violence I'm dolling out. The story missions are tedious, the difficulty birthed out of attempts to navigate the somewhat wonky free-running and stealth mechanics (both feel terribly outdated).

    But naval battles are fun! An upgradeable ship with scaling boarding mechanics really steals the show, but doesn't feel fleshed out enough as 'black flag' sounds like a game that would focus on naval combat Your ship occupies a moderate category not too big, not too small going up against various size ships, but after your begin to upgrade, your small ship feels invincible boarding becomes an annoying array of strategies to blow up barrels, kill officers, cut down flags, and massacre an arbitrary number of red-shirt-like crew members. It feels like an afterthought, and I would've liked more flexibility in ship size and firepower, allowing players to play dart like schooners against man o' wars. Sure it doesn't really fit the whole 'playing through history' idea the series has been based on, but to be fair: the restrictions of playing through history are conveniently employed: mostly for blocking players out of areas so they'll progress the story.

    Although the world is big, large islands rarely have more than a sand bar or two to explore for collectables, all are surrounded by a homogenous cliff- with-jungle texture.

    I did enjoy myself but AC has begun to feel stale on delivery. Combat is too simple, story is garbage grandiose pseudo-religious futurist schmaltz, open-world if open-world is long pretty stretches of road between prefab cities. It loses in the details and that's the only reason I love big company productions like these details afforded by huge sums of money and large development teams.    … Expand
  11. 1234
    May 9, 2014
    5
    pirate part of the game=good, but from the assassins creed franchise viewpoint its poor. every mission was pretty much the same (follow this guy, follow that guy.... oh now earsdrop on the conversation...kill. then it restarts) i havnt even finished it and im bored out of my **** mind
  12. Haddex
    Mar 29, 2015
    7
    If you are going to spend A LOT of hours with secondary missions fine, but if you just want to go through the main history...be ready to feel frustrated like hell, repeating the same unbalanced ship battle over and over and over.
    Resources to improve your ship are totally crazy, specially metal. And warehouses (where you find metal) don't resupply even if the main history advanced    If you are going to spend A LOT of hours with secondary missions fine, but if you just want to go through the main history...be ready to feel frustrated like hell, repeating the same unbalanced ship battle over and over and over.
    Resources to improve your ship are totally crazy, specially metal. And warehouses (where you find metal) don't resupply even if the main history advanced years...pretty pathetic.    … Expand
  13. calo
    Dec 27, 2013
    5
    I'll admit that the new Assassin's Creed game is brilliant, but it's not what I wanted.
    Firstly, the world is far larger, and great, you can explore the Caribbean via ship whenever you want, there's no loading between going onto the ship and onto land, however, larger settlements do require a bit of loading (Nassau, Kingston/Port Royal, Havana). It's by far the best game of the series and    I'll admit that the new Assassin's Creed game is brilliant, but it's not what I wanted.
    Firstly, the world is far larger, and great, you can explore the Caribbean via ship whenever you want, there's no loading between going onto the ship and onto land, however, larger settlements do require a bit of loading (Nassau, Kingston/Port Royal, Havana). It's by far the best game of the series and has a number of side-actives.

    However; the game's storyline is like a mix of set mini-games. For me, I expected multiple endings but no just like assassin's creed III, you have to do all the set objectives and optional objectives if you are aiming for 100% completion. I would accept this if the game was actually COMPLETELY historically accurate, and yet you can go around taking huge forts with one ship which is pretty dire.

    I also felt slightly let down by the modern day storyline, which feels like some sad, boring video you are forced to watch, where you do nothing. Little is actually accomplished in this segment of the game.

    The multiplayer is the exact same as AC3, apart from "Game Lab", which allows players to make their own games. However, it's almost impossible to find ones previously played on ie. Frantic mode ?
    Uplay doesn't even work right, it constantly asks for the redemption code and I can't get ANY ac3 exclusives despite signing up for ACinitiates.

    The side-actives are more like collectibles, which you can no longer do upon completing and run out pretty quickly.

    I was also annoyed with the "Freedom Cry" DLC you play as another pirate and visit Port-au-Prince, which is good. However, Edward cannot access this area? Why is this I feel that this is awkward as it doesn't allow me to explore the area as him (which I would have preferred).

    It's a great game which I highly recommend, but the areas which I wanted to change didn't...
    I am most annoyed with Uplay which is just terrible.    … Expand
  14. Seilof
    Sep 24, 2014
    7
    Meh...

    Its pretty ok! As a pirate game, it's a 8.5/10 or something like that. As an assassins creed game, it's still good. But at the end I felt a bit bored, but the pirating was still fun!
  15. Rainwhole
    Oct 15, 2014
    7
    Why not just make it a pirate game? Black Flag is a game held back because of it's misguided Assassin's Creed tittle. An identity that forces itself on some truly fascinating elements, making an odd mix.

    The naval combat is back from AS3, and it's still awesome. On top of that you got a bunch of other activities like whaling (no, I DON'T support animal cruelty but for the sake of    Why not just make it a pirate game? Black Flag is a game held back because of it's misguided Assassin's Creed tittle. An identity that forces itself on some truly fascinating elements, making an odd mix.

    The naval combat is back from AS3, and it's still awesome. On top of that you got a bunch of other activities like whaling (no, I DON'T support animal cruelty but for the sake of historic accuracy I approve), and sailing through a storm is a truly impressive and intense moment. The thing is, all those things get all after a while, specially on a game asking for many hours of dedication.

    So what's the problem here? Well, on top of the naval exploration. You have all your traditional Assassin's Creed activities like spying, stalking, and of course assassinating. Mind you, all these elements work perfectly find but in my honest opinion they don't match the pirating theme.

    I just wish, Black Flag would have been just a pirate game, and with a focus of pirate activities. Give us pillaging, in depth treasure quests, or the option to become buccaneers. The Assassin's Creed games are fantastic (mostly), but this combination of a pirate game and an AS game is depriving us from two amazing games. One amazing pirate game, and another amazing AS game.    … Expand
  16. Pirante
    Mar 14, 2017
    6
    First ever Assassins Creed game I'd played and I was both surprised (pleasantly) and disappointed. The game looks pretty despite being a last-gen game and was easy enough to get involved in and find joy. I liked going around destroying things, fighting, upgrading my ship, etc etc it's fun...but it gets repetitive. The main missions, in particular, are far more of a chore than a pleasureFirst ever Assassins Creed game I'd played and I was both surprised (pleasantly) and disappointed. The game looks pretty despite being a last-gen game and was easy enough to get involved in and find joy. I liked going around destroying things, fighting, upgrading my ship, etc etc it's fun...but it gets repetitive. The main missions, in particular, are far more of a chore than a pleasure and something you do laboriously to progress the game as opposed to being intrigued by the story.

    The open world aspect is were the game shines - I just wish it was a bit more expansive (i.e. possibilty of changing ships, more extensive upgrades, etc) - the main game is the boring part (collecting tons of pointless things, doing boring stealthy missions). I also found the controls to be far from perfect, lots of incorrect inputs or unwanted actions. The parkour aspect also malfuncions and glitches from time to time, not game breaking by any means, but frequent enough to grate.

    It is a decent game overall - the sad thing is the potenial it has - if this was realised we could be talking about an absolute classic. Instead it is a decent game but a near-miss - I picked my copy up during the black friday deals so paid less than US$10 - at that price it is worth a look - at full retail price I think probably not.    … Expand
  17. DanielCorfour
    Nov 26, 2013
    6
    Assassin's Creed 4: 90% pirate, 10% assassin. To see a summary of this review scroll to the end.

    Ubisoft went ahead and did the obvious. They took, the best part of Assassin's Creed 3, really the only really good part, and made a game out of it. Literally, they retrofitted the game engine used in the previous title into this a new game, while barely adding or changing anything. This    Assassin's Creed 4: 90% pirate, 10% assassin. To see a summary of this review scroll to the end.

    Ubisoft went ahead and did the obvious. They took, the best part of Assassin's Creed 3, really the only really good part, and made a game out of it. Literally, they retrofitted the game engine used in the previous title into this a new game, while barely adding or changing anything. This whole game felt like an AC 3.1, rather than a new title.. which, I wouldn't have had a problem with, if they would have fixed the problems that plagued AC3, or actually gave us a good, satisfying story, like AC2, but they didn't.

    Assassin's Creed wasn't particularly good when it came to game mechanics, AC1 and 2 were kind of bad actually, instead, it was built by it's amazing storytelling, beautiful setting, and wonderful soundtrack. I still listen to Ezio's Family by Jesper Kyd from AC2. That song brings back a kind of emotions that I rarely feel with games. AC4, however delivers only one of these, the setting. I'm going to start by criticizing the story itself. It's terrible. First off, it has nothing to do with Assassins, they barely make a cameo appearance, both inside and outside the Animus. The whole game revolves around pirates, and that wouldn't be a problem, if it was a good story. And it starts out good, but then it gets riddled with plot holes, poor writing, scenes that don't make sense, and although they stayed away from the obvious parrot cliches, they added a bunch of them story-wise. The story does make a few twists, but most of them you'll see coming a mily away, and most of them don't make sense. There is no main enemy in the game, and most of the things that happen in the game make no sense. And if you were expecting a great ending.. don't.. it is terrible. The only plot-twist you won't see coming in this game is the ending.. they drop it on you out of nowhere, just when you were expecting the game would truly begin, and then they hit you in the face with a poorly done cutscene, and leave you confused.

    Here's a tip, dear Ubisoft. A story, every story, follows 5 basic steps, not necessarily in this order: Exposition, Rising Action, Progression, Climax, Ending. The 4th is completely missing, and the fifth leaves you confused, when it should leave you satisfied.

    Then there are the actual missions in the story. Boring, repetitive and most of them don't make sense. All you do is follow this guy, eavesdrop on that guy. And on rare occasions you kill someone. Missions involving ships can be interesting, but at times they are the same boring "follow that ship" nonsense. In comparison with GTA 5, or Red Dead Redemption, where every mission was unique and intriguing, here they are boring, unimaginative and repetitive. The same goes for side missions. Assassinations, Naval Missions and Templar Hunts. All of them are basically the same. If you did one then you did all, there's no point in continuing. You play through it once, but you won't want to play through it a second time.

    What saves the game is the beautiful and huge open world game, the side activities(not missions) and the naval combat. The setting is really amazing, although some fans of the series will find it irritating that you won't visit cities that much, only a couple times, and they are small with not a lot of things to do, the setting just didn't allow for that. Most of the time you will do what the game is all about: pirating. Naval combat is really fun, and it's been expanded upon a lot.: you can board ships, capture them, steal their cargo and send them to your fleet, you can attack naval forts and capture them. You can use those resources to upgrade your ship and so on. There are also underwater places you can explore, but there are limited, and in comparison with GTAV, where there was an entire open-world you could explore, here there are only ten locations, but it still looks great, and avoiding sharks and medusas is great fun. You can also raid plantations, which are a ton of fun... basically the side activities are really great, and make this game enjoyable, even though the story brings it down.

    In summary, it looks like this game was made just so Ubisoft can make more money off of the ship mechanics in AC3. Combat and land based mechanics are basically the same as the previous game, although they did need changing and improving. The game engine is the same as it was in the third title, with very little improvement, or change, when it, again needed it. And all of this would not be a problem if the game offered a good story, but it doesn't. The story seems like an excuse to sell an adapted version of AC3, and the story is driven by the game mechanics, and not vice versa. Luckily the beautiful setting, graphics and excellent pirate game save the game and prop up the rating to a 6/10. You can't help but feel, if they only spent a little bit more time, and wouldn't pump out a game every year, it could've been an amazing game.    … Expand
  18. rodericrinehart
    Jan 30, 2016
    7
    A fun action-movie romp, with too much focus in the animus, and honestly, a pirate game in an Assassin's Creed skin. Doesn't really utilize the power of the PS4 due to being on all the old consoles.
  19. hectorefz
    Jan 23, 2014
    5
    Es un buen juego con respecto a assassins creed 3, pero como el 3, tiene bugs. todavia no es posbile realizar los "eventos" para el trofeo y al parecer ubisoft se olvido de esto.
  20. intrepidis
    Jan 4, 2014
    7
    A good game, but could be better. Visuals: the sea, ships, towns and animals look great. The resolution and frame-rate are both impeccable. Although the character models are sharp and move great, I find the skin textures are too shiny to be believable. (Maybe I've been spoilt by Heavy Rain The Last of Us?) Audio: music is spot on, sound effects are great. Sailing the seas and listening toA good game, but could be better. Visuals: the sea, ships, towns and animals look great. The resolution and frame-rate are both impeccable. Although the character models are sharp and move great, I find the skin textures are too shiny to be believable. (Maybe I've been spoilt by Heavy Rain The Last of Us?) Audio: music is spot on, sound effects are great. Sailing the seas and listening to your crew sing sea shanties heightens the experience.

    Gameplay: At first I just wanted to get on a ship and sail to new islands, to explore on my own... But I found the game shepherding me too much and I had to fulfill its tasks, which was annoying. After a while the game opened up and I could explore as I wanted, but the thrill had kind of passed by then. (I'm probably being too harsh here.) Another thing is that big blue unbelievable walls (Animus style) appear telling you that you can't proceed in certain directions while in the current mission. I hate that. In fact, the whole Animus idea really destroys the illusion of the game (and previous Assassin Creed games). All Animus sections are boring... I just want to be a pirate. Anyway, you eventually find the strength to ignore all this nonsense.

    Summary: a lovely game, marred by some annoyances, but well worth a playthrough. The companion app (for your phone/tablet) is also brilliant.    … Expand
  21. gustavorios2
    Nov 23, 2013
    6
    great game! I really like the way assassins creed franchise evolved

    shame it DON'T SUPPORT 21:9 ASPECT RATIO like most of ubi games... that's a -1
    What the ultra-wide users do? play in a small screen on the center of the monitor?
  22. jack2059
    Feb 6, 2014
    6
    Do not be fooled.
    I hated AC3, it was a buggy mess. But the lure of this beautiful looking open world pulled me in to the series again.
    And for the first few hours of this game, it feels like something special. Very fun ship combat, great exploring and a lovely colorful world. But then you are reminded, its just ANOTHER Assassins Creed. As the game moves on, you are on foot more and    Do not be fooled.
    I hated AC3, it was a buggy mess. But the lure of this beautiful looking open world pulled me in to the series again.
    And for the first few hours of this game, it feels like something special. Very fun ship combat, great exploring and a lovely colorful world. But then you are reminded, its just ANOTHER Assassins Creed.

    As the game moves on, you are on foot more and more often, and this is where the game falls apart.
    The 5 game old combat, could be done blindfolded. The variety offered in the form of different shaped/dressed enemies is plain annoying. A fat guy who throws a grenade, one who cant be attacked, one you have to counter. Its just so blurgh.
    Weapons are again pretty limited considering the depth early games had.

    Then add on the climbing and running aspects, as usual you will spend countless hours running up the wrong wall, jumping when you didn't ask it to.
    I write this review on the back of one of the oh so fun trailing missions, 2 minutes of slow walking, i ascend to a rooftop to kill my target, only for the game to jump on to one of his guards 5 meters behind him. 3 times i've centered my screen on him, watched him flash and flicker as he becomes my target, only for the game to decide otherwise.

    That point also brings up the mission design. Ubisoft, please stop thinking we enjoy walking slowly behind people for 5 minutes, only to be seen at the end and have to restart the entire thing.
    Or to eavesdrop on a conversation, and have to follow our target through a camp full of enemy men.
    Even Assassinate missions/contracts have become so mundane, no longer do you need to work a position and take guards out. Now just stand back and shoot a berserk dart at them and walk away.

    It would also be nice if Ubisoft didn't treat me like an idiot. I left my ship alone, i go to the mission, and suddenly my quartermaster is beside me, i leave the cut scene and he has vanished.
    I silently kill a target as he stops off at the first of a few areas, two bodyguards and a few area guards. I kill him from a haystack, and in the cut scene am then putting his clothes on, what happened to his guards?

    How in the world this series moves on from here i have no idea. The series was flat lining until they brought in ship travel, that helped to gloss over the old lazy boring gameplay. If they do indeed bring out another game this year, or even two like has been rumored (one for each generation of console), it needs to take the game in a crazy new way. But please, just let Creed die. Give us a new Prince of Persia.

    PS, i havent mentioned the story cause frankly, i have no idea what it is, and i dont care. The game is made in a way that you very rarely actually do story missions, you get distracted with collectibles and side missions and travelling so often.    … Expand
  23. Leandro36
    Dec 1, 2013
    7
    Story is weak and hard to follow at times, too many ship and tailing missions, but other than that it easily improves vastly from the other games and does everything other than the story much better.
  24. m0rb
    Nov 27, 2013
    6
    okay, let's get some things out of the way first...
    I am NO console fan-boy, not a cheerleader for PlayStation, nor for XBoX!
    I am a PC-gamer and a proud one, too... for that, my review is focussing on the differences between this "next Gen" and the good ole' PC. I'll write something about the game first in this part I and later in part II I'll say something about this PS4 version.    okay, let's get some things out of the way first...
    I am NO console fan-boy, not a cheerleader for PlayStation, nor for XBoX!

    I am a PC-gamer and a proud one, too... for that, my review is focussing on the differences between this "next Gen" and the good ole' PC.
    I'll write something about the game first in this part I and later in part II I'll say something about this PS4 version.

    I. (the game itself):

    I played ALL parts of the AC franchise and while I didn't like them all, I didn't hate all either.
    "Black Flag" is in my opinion the best AC yet!
    This is so, because they took what I loved about ACIII the most, sea-fights, and built their game around that, plus I absolutely adore pirates since I was a kid.
    The setting in the carribean is just great and while the islands are pretty small, this has the upside of the islands not overwhelming you with their sheer size.
    On the other hand, when in a sea-fight, it can be annoying when you crash with your ship into a sandbank, for there's yet another island in your way... ;)
    Anyway, LOVE the seafights and the "boat-play" and I LOVE how the world looks in this installment, with bright colors and a turquoise sea. Just beautiful!
    Normal combat is as dull as it has always been it's just always the same. Swing sword, wait for a chance to counter, then counter and kill your enemy that's it. But then again, hasn't it always been as dull as it is now? I think yes, it was always like this.
    Storyline is nice, from what I've seen until now I'm not yet through atm. Missions are, again, more of the same, which can be dull at some points and they should come up with more new ideas, IMO...
    But, on the gameplay itself, "AC Black Flag" is a solid game and I'd give it 8/10 points.

    Part II: the PS4 version...

    I own the game on my PC and now I visited a friend, who proudly wanted to brag with his new PS4, asking me, with a stupidly arrogant grin on his face, whether I'd had seen any game as beautiful as this ever before in my life.... unfortunately, I HAD TO tell him straight-out "YES!" OMG, yes! He wouldn't believe me that my version on PC looked better than his PS4 version not enough that I didn't even have a top-of-the-line graphics-card, for mine was mid-range and is almost 3 years old...
    So we kept on playing for an hour more and I took him to my home, where he could witness proof of the PCs advantage over his PS4.
    He didn't want to believe me, but when he actually saw proof of my not lieing, he almost teared-up! Yes, he really was about to cry.
    And as I had mentioned, I use a "Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme", an 2 year old reboot of an almost 4 years old GPU that runs OC, but lacks some functions of the newest GPUs and, as I said, it isn't even an expensive top-of-the-line graphics-card...

    Nevertheless, the graphics on PC even a mid-range PC, mind you!, the graphics look just better on PC!
    Everything is clearer, more crisp AND I run a game in AT LEAST 30 FPS, many games even in constantly 60 FPS...

    Apart from graphics, I didn't notice that many differences between PC and PS4 controls on PS4 were equally great on both systems, which leaves the PC on the throne of "great gaming experience", IMO.
    I honestly have hoped for this "next Gen" of consoles to finally become better than a decent PC (not top-of-tzhe-line, I must remind you!that consoles will NEVER achieve!), but, unfortunately, this "next Gen" is not quite there yet and even my "3 years old mid-range rig"(!) is still kicking this consoles ass!
    I hope that this has only been the case for the games aren't quite there yet, but then again, even if it really were for "AC BF" being one of the very first PS4 games that it could NOT beat my PC YET, I have to remind everybody sharing this hope that, in December I'm gonna buy an "enthusiasts" GPU (GFX 780 Ti), the best there is out there at the moment and with that, I don't think ANY of the next 3 years PS4 games could beat my PC then!

    on this particular PS4 version, I have to rate "AS: BF" only 4/10

    which leaves us with:

    game itself: 8/10
    PS4 version: 4/10

    OVERALL: 6/10    … Expand
  25. hemmo1986
    Jun 3, 2014
    6
    Assassin's creed: Black flag is interesting in the fact that, while giving the appearance of a fresh new,massive world, it becomes clear after a few hours of hands on time, that assassin's creed black flag is indeed just another game in the franchise with a new coat of paint.

    While the setting may have changed from European mainlands, to beautiful Caribbean island locations; the    Assassin's creed: Black flag is interesting in the fact that, while giving the appearance of a fresh new,massive world, it becomes clear after a few hours of hands on time, that assassin's creed black flag is indeed just another game in the franchise with a new coat of paint.

    While the setting may have changed from European mainlands, to beautiful Caribbean island locations; the game-play has widely remained unchanged. From the typical tail the NPC missions, to the unchanged combat mechanics, dated character animations, and physics.That' s not to say this game doesn't have its moments, because it certainly does.

    Sailing the high seas is extremely enjoyable, while also taking in the beautiful locations and activities the game has to offer.

    The new setting offers pretty oceans and islands, it really isn't that graphically outstanding.
    Quite disappointing really.

    This game is a fun and entertaining one, it just doesn't offer anything drastically new or innovating for the series. Being an assassin's creed game, you should truly know what to expect.    … Expand
  26. SolarGaming
    Jan 1, 2014
    7
    Single Player:
    Gameplay: While the core features are still there the actual feeling of Assassins Creed, at least for me, is not there. The combat is simple, but a bit too easy. In the earlier Assassins Creed games when you were fighting a target you at least had a challenge in open combat, but here you take them out by countering once or twice and doing a quick slash, or stab to finish    Single Player:
    Gameplay: While the core features are still there the actual feeling of Assassins Creed, at least for me, is not there. The combat is simple, but a bit too easy. In the earlier Assassins Creed games when you were fighting a target you at least had a challenge in open combat, but here you take them out by countering once or twice and doing a quick slash, or stab to finish him. Naval combat is a blast and where this game really shines, it's innovative system where random events at sea, such as storms or a convoy, can infuriate you with wanting those 132 Kegs or so of Rum in the British Frigate, but you know you really can't take it at that strength. You really can't get any new ships, you pretty much just upgrade the Jackdaw (Your personal Brig) with more Broadside Guns, Hull Resistance, and etc. The story had some shocking moments and really touching character scenes that I won't spoil, overall the Single Player for Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag was really good, especially the story.

    Multiplayer: While I really didn't dive far in to the Multiplayer I played enough to get the gist of at least what most people will be doing on the game. Missing a HUGE opportunity the game didn't add a Navy Battle game mode to the Multiplayer, the retical didn't seem to function very properly seemingly going a little to the right, but of course this could just be my skill level in the Multiplayer. The level editor I couldn't get to work for me but it seems most people could. Overall the Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag Multiplayer was kind of disappointing.
    Overall:
    Likes:
    A Great Story, with great characters, and writing.
    Naval Combat was really innovative for the franchise.
    Ship Customization.
    Random Events

    Dislikes:
    Difficulty
    Multiplayer    … Expand
  27. TheCartoon77
    Mar 8, 2014
    5
    Take my advice and try not to get this on next generation. Its not worth paying extra. I found this out when I sank a ship, and it sank right through my ship. Also the graphics are just above average. Kenway's face moved like it was stuck in a irritating smirk. I found when I killed an enemy they fly a foot forwards when they have been struck by my hideously overpowered swords. HalfwayTake my advice and try not to get this on next generation. Its not worth paying extra. I found this out when I sank a ship, and it sank right through my ship. Also the graphics are just above average. Kenway's face moved like it was stuck in a irritating smirk. I found when I killed an enemy they fly a foot forwards when they have been struck by my hideously overpowered swords. Halfway through the game I knew none of my enemy's stood a chance against me when I gained two swords, four pistols, a dart shooter, two hidden blades, smoke bombs, throwing knives and money. All challenge was removed from the game at this point even when I wasn't even trying to accomplish anything. The story missions are the more repetitive than the resident evil series. Nearly all of them require you to tail or eavesdrop on the enemy. They are so easy I was just running on rooftops try to keep up with them. But one thing I noticed, WHERE ARE THE ASSASSINATION MISSIONS? They should have just called this game 'Pirates Creed'. There are only about three in the entire game. It trys to cover this up by having assassins side missions. These only require you to kill a target to get 1000 Reales. There can be a 500 bonus if you stay out of combat. This can be so easy, when I got the berserk darts I was trying to get my target killed by his guards. Sailing is fun as it gets with trying to get cargo from other ships to either sell or use to upgrade your ship. I tried to ignore the ships level, and just see how long it took for the ship to move another way other than the way I was going. Eventually we were just going in circles. Don't bother trying to board a ship unless you want to lower your wanted level or want to send it to 'Kenway's Fleet'. You still get the ships loot regardless of how you destroy it. Kenways fleet is just a small and unnecessary add-on to the game. Its just another way to get more money. The characters are boring and all have a similar personality. They all seem to be okay with Kenway risking his life for their gain. The franchise has got better since the disappointing third installment. The final overview of this is it is not worth getting skull edition or the season pass because you will get bored very quickly with this.… Expand
  28. sgtdegrandis
    Oct 8, 2014
    6
    It was fun but like all Assassin creed games only the first time really counts.

    the goods o naval combat was amazing and taking on man of wars is always fun o naval Songs was great o very little load screens o a true open world experience o combat is as always top notch the bads o main character not really an assassin (kinda lame considering its assassins creed) o underwater    It was fun but like all Assassin creed games only the first time really counts.

    the goods
    o naval combat was amazing and taking on man of wars is always fun
    o naval Songs was great
    o very little load screens
    o a true open world experience
    o combat is as always top notch
    the bads
    o main character not really an assassin (kinda lame considering its assassins creed)
    o underwater diving was kinda lame
    o the story in general is really getting confusing    … Expand
  29. BuyukBurak
    Apr 14, 2015
    7
    Assassin's Creed 4 is the Pirate game. Graphics are good gameplay is not bad. Story is Mediocre. I like this game but this is not AC game.

    My score 7/10
  30. fireyose
    Nov 2, 2017
    7
    Much better than the games before it. The beginning is a rush to play as you discover all the features the game world has. Unfortunately that momentum dies in the middle, where the missions become dull and dragged out with repetitive action. What didn't help was my interest in collecting all items on a given island. This slowed the game down drastically, so i decided to mainly focus on theMuch better than the games before it. The beginning is a rush to play as you discover all the features the game world has. Unfortunately that momentum dies in the middle, where the missions become dull and dragged out with repetitive action. What didn't help was my interest in collecting all items on a given island. This slowed the game down drastically, so i decided to mainly focus on the story and the momentum built right back up.

    Overall: High fun factor, movement is still heavy/clunky and there is plenty to do/explore. One of my favorite AC games!    … Expand
  31. renatoelyone
    Jan 17, 2021
    6
    Game had enormous potential but the bugs and repetitions take the shine out of that game. The story starts well but gets lost in the course of the characters are charismatic. The biggest problem of this game is to be from Ubisoft, this game needed more than 2 years of development to be a top game and a broken game that lacks polish.
  32. Riskyreview
    Jan 30, 2014
    7
    After AC3 i had really low expectations for this game but as it turns out the gameplay is actually pretty damn solid!
    But as in AC3 the story is terrible! especially outside the animus!
  33. Mando44646
    Feb 17, 2014
    7
    Fun pirate simulator, not so great Assassins Creed game.

    Being a pirate in this game was a ton of fun, and if thats what the game was supposed to focus on, then this would easily be a 9 and not a 7. But the actual AC story in it was just awful compared to previous games. Edward isnt really an assassin and is about the worst protagonist in any of the games in that light. As a pirate, he    Fun pirate simulator, not so great Assassins Creed game.

    Being a pirate in this game was a ton of fun, and if thats what the game was supposed to focus on, then this would easily be a 9 and not a 7. But the actual AC story in it was just awful compared to previous games. Edward isnt really an assassin and is about the worst protagonist in any of the games in that light. As a pirate, he works great. The story progression of AC as a franchise also stalled out a bit in this game and not much was added. Also, more of the same; this makes the 3rd AC game in 2 years set in the colonial North American setting and its getting old now.

    I hope to see the next AC do something new in regards to setting and period and I hope to see a true entry in the AC franchise story-wise.    … Expand
  34. smuniz83
    Jan 17, 2014
    7
    As an assassin's game it fails but as a pirate game is where it shines. The game has many many flaws that can make the game frustrating and annoying which makes me sad to see since most of these flaws are from prior assassin's games and you would expect them to fix that or make it better. Things like your character constantly doing what you don't want it to do. Fighting onboard a ship isAs an assassin's game it fails but as a pirate game is where it shines. The game has many many flaws that can make the game frustrating and annoying which makes me sad to see since most of these flaws are from prior assassin's games and you would expect them to fix that or make it better. Things like your character constantly doing what you don't want it to do. Fighting onboard a ship is pretty terrible since there are a lot of enemies and targeting sucks so you'll be hitting different people that you don't want to hit or worse, something you'll character will be out of combat when enemies are nearby so when you press circle to counter you'll actually put away your swords and get hit. The story is pretty terrible and it's sad to see how instead of the developers fixing what the game was about and improving being an assassin they instead just add something else to it to attract people and hope they ignore all the flaws it has when your doing your assassin thing.
    Essentally this is AC 3.2. Everything from AC3 is in this but with a few new stuff like diving and hunting sea animals and it greatly improves on the sailing part and what you can do with your ship. As a long fan of the AC series it pain me to see how the developers passion for the game is gone, as you can see from the bad story, and all they care about is making money. It's also evident when you play the game and hint at future installments they may make to further milk the franchise.
    Other than all negative I put the pirate side like I said is fun. You can upgrade your ship and ship battles are fun. There are also legendary ships you can tackle but unfortunately you get nothing good out of them other than bragging rights. I wish they would've just made this a stand alone pirate game and made a separate Assassin's creed game that's actually good than we would've gone two great games and the company would've made lost of money since there is a lot of potential when your acting as a pirate.
    Overall if you want a game that gives you plenty to do than this game might be for you if your into pirates. If you want a good story that continues the series then you'll be disapointed if you pick up this game.    … Expand
  35. rhaynes7
    Apr 26, 2014
    7
    While AC4 is certainly an improvement on AC3, and I loved the naval battles and the deep sea diving sections, the game's cities lack that grand scope that the 1st and 2nd had. Furthermore, the lack of a wanted level in the town's makes my random acts of violence go without consequence.

    Although this game does repair many of the bugs from AC3, I still found plenty of little problems,    While AC4 is certainly an improvement on AC3, and I loved the naval battles and the deep sea diving sections, the game's cities lack that grand scope that the 1st and 2nd had. Furthermore, the lack of a wanted level in the town's makes my random acts of violence go without consequence.

    Although this game does repair many of the bugs from AC3, I still found plenty of little problems, some of which kicked me out of the game. None of the sequences stood out to me as any real amount of fun, except for the templar hunts. It's too bad that these were side missions rather than what the game focused on. As much as I enjoyed sailing and pirating, getting all the collectibles across all those uncharted islands is such a chore. Some of the other smaller locales don't even have guards or anything to make them interesting. They look all the same as well. A few design choices seemed a little clueless as well. I'm sorry, but Florida does not have peaks and cliffs.

    The game was good, and there's certainly a sense of adventure, but it feels too much like a chore to sail around. Good thing there's fast travel. I like the frontier areas and running through trees, but there is too much, and the cities themselves never impressed me, and there was no reason to walk around and see all of the city. I much prefer the city and environments of the 1st and 2nd installment that seemed so grandiose.    … Expand
  36. MetalGearYoshi
    Nov 14, 2013
    5
    Some great moments, but still not better than AC2. Maybe if they will release next AC, they will have some other issues resolved. I Have no idea, why Ubisoft put Prince of Persia to grave :(
    AC is weak copy.
  37. Schuback
    Feb 26, 2016
    6
    Bought the original AC when it released for the PS3. It was new and so awesome. I remember being impressed by the graphics and how Altair walks pass pedestrians. So cool at the time never before seen in a video game I guess. Didn't have a good story and the gameplay was so repetitive. But the game was fresh and innovative. Few years later bought AC Revelations. Returned it the next dayBought the original AC when it released for the PS3. It was new and so awesome. I remember being impressed by the graphics and how Altair walks pass pedestrians. So cool at the time never before seen in a video game I guess. Didn't have a good story and the gameplay was so repetitive. But the game was fresh and innovative. Few years later bought AC Revelations. Returned it the next day cause it was pretty much the same thing. Wasn't interested in the setting as well. Graphics and gameplay didn't change much and boy the characters are unlikable like the first one. Skipped the rest. Then I bought the PS4 and there were so few games available. So I decided to buy Black Flag.

    "It's Assassin's Creed so of course it's going to be based on the same mechanics. Idiot." Ok well this time Ubisoft added quite alot. It has a larger world map and you can go around assaulting forts, establishing settlements, treasure hunting and omg ship battles. The world is beautiful too as you sail across from island to island. The problem is it's still too familiar. Why can't Ubisoft make a pirate game as a separate IP. Because having the AC linked to it, you'll be dealing with the repetitive gameplay of stalking, eavedropping, chasing, climbing and dealing with dumb ai opponents. Over and over since the first game. Adding rpg elements like upgrading perks and weapons is a plus. Being open-world is also a good thing too. But why can't we create our character? The main character in BF is boring. So was Altair and that Italian old man. But overall, I came back and I just feel if I didn't really enjoy the core gameplay of the original AC, Black Flag is the same game + and therefore I won't like it.

    So what can I say? It is a good game if you are new to the franchise. If you played a few AC installments before and you didn't like them (like me), don't expect there to be much difference in Black Flag. Please Ubisoft, make the next Assassin's Creed set in China or Japan. Somewhere exotic. Not the same thing again like England, France cause they're nothing special, really.    … Expand
  38. Kenmei
    Dec 12, 2013
    7
    If you were to directly compare this to AC 3, then this is a huge improvement over what was easily the worst game in the series. If you compare the game to the entire series, then it probably ranks as the 2nd or 3rd best game to come out so far. The biggest thing here is the emphasis on the ships in this game. If you didn't like it in the last game, then you'll hate it here and it'll turnIf you were to directly compare this to AC 3, then this is a huge improvement over what was easily the worst game in the series. If you compare the game to the entire series, then it probably ranks as the 2nd or 3rd best game to come out so far. The biggest thing here is the emphasis on the ships in this game. If you didn't like it in the last game, then you'll hate it here and it'll turn you off so bad that you are forced into playing it, unlike the last game. This game is about 50% old AC stuff and 50% ship battling/exploration. You have to know that going into the game because it'll be a huge disappointment if you're expecting more like AC 2. The issue is that the story is not very good and if you don't like the ship mechanic, then don't play it because that's all you do all the time and the story is not good enough to carry the game through something like that. As a PS4 game, it's essentially one of the few games that is halfway decent on the system right now. If for only the fact that the game is better than most of the other stuff out there, pick this up if you're interested in it on a new system. But I would probably not recommend someone pick this up on the last gen consoles as there are tons of other things that they can play that will far and away better than this.… Expand
  39. mosessaur
    Jan 1, 2014
    7
    Well this one is definitely better than ACIII. Still got few annoying bugs and the free run and combat aren't as fluid as previous titles. Blocking is extremely annoying in this one.
    Sailing is fascinating visuas are stunning. I likedthe story and Edward character.collectables aren't that much interesting except for Mayan and Templar hunt. Naval combats are great too.
    Multiplayer sucks    Well this one is definitely better than ACIII. Still got few annoying bugs and the free run and combat aren't as fluid as previous titles. Blocking is extremely annoying in this one.
    Sailing is fascinating visuas are stunning. I likedthe story and Edward character.collectables aren't that much interesting except for Mayan and Templar hunt. Naval combats are great too.
    Multiplayer sucks big time absolutely nothing new here is played other ac games. Another annoying this is the social events in single player mood. Too rare and impossible to find. Ubi support didn't provide feedback about this so far.
    There is nothing to do after completing the game so replay isn't really that much fun. This is 7 for mr    … Expand
  40. carlost
    Feb 8, 2014
    7
    Esta bien, pero no disfrutas a lo loco, con el dineral que se gastan podría estar mucho mejor, pero cumple. He jugado a todos los assassins creed y bueno, este en ps4 debo decir que noté mucho mas el salto grafico en el tres que en este... No puedo evitar fijarme en eso
  41. ronald_koeman
    Mar 23, 2014
    7
    Much improved gameplay since AC3 and is very nice looking. Whether you like this game will come down to one thing.... do you like going around for hours on end in a boat. I do not so therefore found this installment boring but lots of mates enjoyed the boating part so it really comes down to that. I just hope that i never see a boat in assassins creed ever again
  42. darthbadger
    Mar 30, 2014
    7
    First of all, this game looks fantastic. The controls, plot-line, and cut scenes are all pretty awkward, and the story is classic assassin's creed bad. But we're all really playing it for the take downs and exploration, of which are are plenty. If you've already got a ps4, I'd recommend this one, otherwise, wait til its less than $50.
  43. flametail23
    Oct 23, 2014
    7
    Pretty good game, minimal problems with story and the combat is pretty decent. My friend loaned me the game and I have enjoyed the time I have put into it.
    7/10
  44. Beko-Gamer
    Jun 28, 2014
    7
    Assassins Creed Black Flag is a really good game. Its fun and has a lot of stuff to do. But IT IS NOT NEXT GEN graphics are bad. Even worse than some games that came out for the 360 and ps3. Maps are big but repetitive nothing new same design. However it is fun and it is worth your money.
  45. JoshLuck1995
    Jul 24, 2014
    7
    Tried to re ignite my love for the AC franchise, but it didnt work. I do not like this pirate idea, its really not a good idea, i guess thats why they are going with the idea behind Unity. The graphics are good and the game runs really well thats why im giving it a 7 and i can fully understand how some people will love it, especially if they are into pirtates etc, but seeing as im not andTried to re ignite my love for the AC franchise, but it didnt work. I do not like this pirate idea, its really not a good idea, i guess thats why they are going with the idea behind Unity. The graphics are good and the game runs really well thats why im giving it a 7 and i can fully understand how some people will love it, especially if they are into pirtates etc, but seeing as im not and i am not keen on the idea of it in a video game i have to give it a 7.… Expand
  46. erhanz
    Jul 26, 2014
    7
    Finished this game a week ago.
    The latest installment to the Assassin's Creed franchise, featuring a new character, Edward Kenway.
    As you may know, Edward Kenway is the grandfather of Connor Kenway, the protagonist from Assassin's Creed III. Edward is just another pirate who's trying to find lots of money, so he can live carefree in this world. One day his ship crashed and he was    Finished this game a week ago.
    The latest installment to the Assassin's Creed franchise, featuring a new character, Edward Kenway.
    As you may know, Edward Kenway is the grandfather of Connor Kenway, the protagonist from Assassin's Creed III.
    Edward is just another pirate who's trying to find lots of money, so he can live carefree in this world. One day his ship crashed and he was stranded in an island. There, he met an Assassin, he killed him and took the Assassin's name as his own. Edward is the first character in the Assassin's Creed that learn everything about assassination not from the Creed. He's self taught because he has the "sense" of an Assassin (In other words, a genius). Find out the journey of Edward in the Caribbean Sea.

    Plus point:
    - First Assassin's Creed game that was released on a next gen console. And i must say, although the graphics are not better than Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, the environment is awesome. The sea, the sky, everything is so colorful, making your naval journey awesome. Also harpooning is fun.
    - A new character who is unique and breaking the stereotype of Assassin's Creed protagonist. Edward, he doesn't care about justice and stuffs like that, all he wants is money. And his character development is really interesting, because he becomes a "real" assassin at the end of the game.
    - Battle systems are as always, too easy and boring. But this time, our hero use a new weapons. Which is Dual Sword & 4 Handgun. Pretty neat.
    - Freedom Cry, a stand alone DLC was released for this game. It told the story of Adewale, Edward's crew on the Jackdaw. The story takes place a few years after Black Flag, although Edward's name was mentioned a few times, it was unknown about how he was doing. This DLC worth every penny of it. It's enough to enjoy the Caribbean Sea once again with another character and another purpose.

    Minus point:
    - The world is too large. I found myself spending too much time on the exploration part.While the story is just too short. Sailing through the sea took my sweet time on this game. I must say that it was quite boring sailing through the sea and waiting for my ship to arrive at the destination.
    - Same old Assassin's Creed. Hope Ass Creed Unity can bring a new wind to this franchise.

    The verdict:
    I don't know why the hate for ACIV. I love the game & i love edward. The game is visually stunning in some aspects, but kinda looks bad on another. Although there are no new big changes to the gameplay, the story itself isn't that bad. It's good to see someone different from the previous protagonists. If you have PS4, then play this on PS4. It's really good, since there are no problems with Frame Skip like in PS3. The game runs smoothly on PS4. Totally recommended. But i must say, that this is just another game of Assassin's Creed. Nothing more and nothing less. 7/10 for this game.    … Expand
  47. Coops
    Jul 4, 2014
    7
    More of the same which isn't a bad thing, it looks beautiful, the controls are good and the missions are great fun but tend to be a bit of a slog on some occasions. The sailing on the open seas are fantastic with plenty to do. The multiplayer is a bit of a let down with no real changes but still fun enough. All in all if you're a fan you'll enjoy it, not a must buy but a worth a place inMore of the same which isn't a bad thing, it looks beautiful, the controls are good and the missions are great fun but tend to be a bit of a slog on some occasions. The sailing on the open seas are fantastic with plenty to do. The multiplayer is a bit of a let down with no real changes but still fun enough. All in all if you're a fan you'll enjoy it, not a must buy but a worth a place in your collection.… Expand
  48. Murredly
    Aug 26, 2014
    7
    I have never played an AC game until this and I was pleasantly surprised.

    The graphics and open world, created by the use of ships, and the amount of customization made the game fun. However, the amount of random glitches and useless exploring required to achieve these upgrades got boring quick. There is some fun challenges with community events and elite ships, but unless you have    I have never played an AC game until this and I was pleasantly surprised.

    The graphics and open world, created by the use of ships, and the amount of customization made the game fun. However, the amount of random glitches and useless exploring required to achieve these upgrades got boring quick.

    There is some fun challenges with community events and elite ships, but unless you have friends who play, you can feel rather isolated in a game that seems to want some form of co-op.

    Definitely recommend this game.    … Expand
  49. Fryto
    Dec 2, 2014
    7
    AC IV: Black Flag is one of the better looking games I've played so far on the PS4. The world is colorful and detailed. The cities and settlements look stunning and are fun to explore, although it isn't exactly a 'real' open world, as each area has its boundaries beyond which you cannot explore further.

    The controls lack a bit of finesse, which can be frustrating sometimes. Also the    AC IV: Black Flag is one of the better looking games I've played so far on the PS4. The world is colorful and detailed. The cities and settlements look stunning and are fun to explore, although it isn't exactly a 'real' open world, as each area has its boundaries beyond which you cannot explore further.

    The controls lack a bit of finesse, which can be frustrating sometimes. Also the mandatory pirating activities start to feel like a grind after a while, as they're necessary to further upgrade your ship, which in its turn is a requirement to be able to start some of the story missions. And this is where it kind of starts to fall apart. If you don't care much about the pirating part, you'll encounter a point in the game where you suddenly need big improvements on your ship. And the only way to get these is to go play pirate to get the necessary resources, so you're in for a long grind...

    Apart from that the story is a joy to play through and the missions are varied. Count with that the countless number of sidequests and collectibles, and you know you'll be in it for a while.

    Microtransactions are available but not required to play the game (luckily). Still there should be no place for such nonsense in a full retail game.

    + Graphics
    + Story
    + Overall fun factor if you don't mind the mandatory pirate gameplay
    + Lots of content

    - Mandatory pirate activities
    - Open world isn't really 'open'
    - Microtransactions    … Expand
  50. tsakiym
    Jul 31, 2015
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. every year a new AC.. after brotherhood this game is a disaster. ubisoft is a nice **** money-taking company. the only think about black flag that i like was the pirate ship, Battleships.… Expand
  51. coolwali
    Jun 22, 2020
    7
    While the story is amazing, ship combat gets boring after a few hours. Ship exploration has very little to actually find. On foot, the lack of challenge or varied gamelay hurts.
  52. Sovietkiller
    Dec 9, 2020
    7
    I think people think AC 4 is the good one, the one worth playing. I totally agree with that, the exploration is better than any other game in the series except maybe Rogue, but AC 4 pioneered it. So why is it a 7. The story's great, Edward is great, the cities are mostly great except for Kingston, and there's a whole Caribbean Fantasy to explore. In my personal and undoubtably rightI think people think AC 4 is the good one, the one worth playing. I totally agree with that, the exploration is better than any other game in the series except maybe Rogue, but AC 4 pioneered it. So why is it a 7. The story's great, Edward is great, the cities are mostly great except for Kingston, and there's a whole Caribbean Fantasy to explore. In my personal and undoubtably right opinion AC4 is the buggiest AC game ever. Forget Unity, which is completely patched now, AC4 got worse! The amount of minor glitches and parkour bugs I experience ruined the parkour experience and going back to AC3 or going ahead to Unity I realized just how buggy this game is. The bugs ruined my experience and no one talks about it. I found one review by a Youtuber named Whitelight which mentions this issue, but it's much worse than you think. Every time you're smoothly walking along the Ancient Temple in a remote part of the Mexican coast or Caribbean your suddenly created with a seizure of weird glitches and Edward sliding off the temple. The combat is also buggy as hell, maybe not as buggy as Unity, but along with the easy combat, which I don't like, the overly wrong tutorial and the most bugs than in other AC right now, it brings this masterpiece of exploration and fulfilling your dream of being in the Pirates of the Caribbean down to a 7. If you read this whole thing and played the game on any device, including the Switch version, I'm sure you'll agree. And AC Rogue don't fix these issues so unless you loved the exploration so much get Rogue for $20 on Amazon instead of the Freedom Cry Dlc for $15 because of the overwhelming amount of locations in Rogue, I think it's almost double Black Flag. Going to the DLC, how did they have time for a full DLC when they didn't finish the game, oh and multiplayer, if they go rid of multiplayer and Dlc and just fixed the game it would be a 9/10 or 10/10, they will probably never fix the game because they didn't fix thew Switch port, but the exploration in this game and Edward was enough to take this game from a 3 or 4/10 to 7/10, I hope this shows you why this is the score it is.… Expand
  53. Sr_PuXiToPuiG
    Jan 3, 2021
    7
    Piola. .
  54. JoshTejas
    Jul 25, 2020
    7
    Late to the party here as I played in 2020. Overall it was an enjoyable experience. The sailing portion of this was the most enjoyable part in my opinion. It was fun to have your own ship and upgrade it along the way while taking part in naval battles. The controls were wonky at times as is per the usual in AC games. Free running doesn't always work like you want it to when trying to makeLate to the party here as I played in 2020. Overall it was an enjoyable experience. The sailing portion of this was the most enjoyable part in my opinion. It was fun to have your own ship and upgrade it along the way while taking part in naval battles. The controls were wonky at times as is per the usual in AC games. Free running doesn't always work like you want it to when trying to make quick maneuvers, but that has always been my experience. My biggest complaint here is being basically level gated during some portions of the game. It's hard to progress in the story late into the game if you ship isn't upgraded enough. I was playing for the story missions and I didn't have a lot of interest in going off doing other things just so I could upgrade. I actually didn't finish the game as the game literally told me "Maybe you should upgrade your ship." after I kept losing in a fight on the water. I dislike things like this, which is why I'm giving it a 7.… Expand
  55. Sneakyfox
    Aug 28, 2020
    5
    Overall a very tedious experience.
    I've played every other AC game bar Rogue, and I must say this is probably the worst Assassin's Creed game.

    Is it a decent pirate game? Probably.
    But for someone who is looking for an Assassin's Creed experience, I really didn't enjoy this one and quit it after around sequence 8.
  56. penmumble
    Feb 21, 2022
    7
    By far one of the more fun AC titles. It's addictive and the world is lush and fun to explore. The sailing mechanics are super fun and there's something kind of special about sailing through the night while your crew sings a sea shanty. Edward is a great assassin; he's suave and cocky and actually pretty funny. His story is surprisingly heartfelt, and this is definitely a memorable AC story.
  57. robinzvak
    Mar 14, 2016
    6
    Main character is terrible bored, badly written with combination very stupid story. After that side this is one of worst game on ps4 what i played yet. Age of pirates never fascinate me. This game not change it.
  58. Vanpire73
    Feb 10, 2015
    7
    I have never been all that much of a fan of the Assassin's Creed games. I made it halfway through number 2 and quit out of fatigue and never made it back. This is my first attempt since then to give the franchise another shot. Not because I miss the stupid animus **** the painfully awkward parkour system, the endlessly boring and ridiculously finicky eavesdropping/tailing/sneakingI have never been all that much of a fan of the Assassin's Creed games. I made it halfway through number 2 and quit out of fatigue and never made it back. This is my first attempt since then to give the franchise another shot. Not because I miss the stupid animus **** the painfully awkward parkour system, the endlessly boring and ridiculously finicky eavesdropping/tailing/sneaking missions that 95% of the main campaign consists of, but for the pirating stuff. The sailing around and exploring are what make this game fun. Any one of the numerous side missions are much more enjoyable than any of the main ones. Someone else said it in their review, but it is a damn shame a good pirate game had to be stapled to a **** Assassin's Creed game. It probably would have been a 9.5 otherwise.… Expand
  59. bulger_paul
    May 27, 2019
    5
    Not usually a fan of the AC games, but the pirate stuff in this game is awesome
  60. Ogmios232
    May 19, 2015
    5
    It's really a shame, this is my first Assassin's creed game and I was expecting epicness and wonder. Boyyyy I was soo wrong, combat is extremely repetitively easy, you can easily kill pretty much all the enemies without hiding like an assassin. The ship combat was fun though, it was suprisingly enjoyable conquering forts and legendary ships. Pretty graphics is a plus.

    Story mode was a    It's really a shame, this is my first Assassin's creed game and I was expecting epicness and wonder. Boyyyy I was soo wrong, combat is extremely repetitively easy, you can easily kill pretty much all the enemies without hiding like an assassin. The ship combat was fun though, it was suprisingly enjoyable conquering forts and legendary ships. Pretty graphics is a plus.

    Story mode was a bore, at some point while playing this game I really didn;t get enough motivation to want to finish the game. I don't normally leave bad ratings, because I strongly believe that each and every game has a "wow" factor. Overall, black flag was very disappointing and I expected more from it.    … Expand
  61. DinoBeam
    Jun 21, 2020
    6
    It starts out feeling like the ultimate pirate game with a great cast of characters, but falls to overly un-fun dark writing and frustrating missions. If Pirates of the Caribbean is %100 fun and adventure, Black Flag comes only to %25, after feeling like %90 early on.
  62. captain9fingers
    Jan 2, 2015
    5
    A great looking game with a story that pulls you in, unfortunately I had difficulty with the controls, when running through a town I would start climbing when I didn't want to. This game is really hard, I got stuck on a mission where I needed to catch someone running away and after several attempts gave up and haven't played it since
  63. Darko84
    Feb 3, 2015
    6
    AC Black Flag is a good game and you will want to play if you are an AC's fan but it has its flaws.
    Gameplay is better than previous games of the franchise (stealth system and parkour), the graphics are pretty solid and reflect the new generation of consoles. Story wise is interesting but l don't like how they handle the main character on the present time, on the other hand Edward is a    AC Black Flag is a good game and you will want to play if you are an AC's fan but it has its flaws.
    Gameplay is better than previous games of the franchise (stealth system and parkour), the graphics are pretty solid and reflect the new generation of consoles. Story wise is interesting but l don't like how they handle the main character on the present time, on the other hand Edward is a bad ass and greedy person, it failed to make you feel something about what was happening to him. On top of that the story is not driven on the best possible way, sometimes you just know where you need to go because of the map, otherwise you would never know what is coming next. Open world is cool and the addition of the ship is just incredible, that feeling of sailing is great however even when it's a big map, it is very limited in variants, that's the reason side missions get repetitive over the time. What I hated is that the forced you to repeat side missions in order to improve your ship and be able to progress on the main story.

    Positive:
    + Graphics
    + Stealth/Parkour System
    + World atmosphere (ship, music, etc.)

    Negative:
    - Story/character development
    - Side missions are repetitive
    - Forced to improve your ship by side missions    … Expand
  64. bristolian5
    Apr 9, 2015
    6
    ♪♫ Who lives in a pirate ship, over the sea? Edward Kenway! ♪♫ Who lives in a pirate ship, over the sea? Edward Kenway, Edward Kenway, Ed-d-dward Kenway! Sea shanties play a huge role in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (such as the one I attempted to make, sing it using the Spongebob theme), mainly because most of the game you will be sailing your ship. At first, this is fun. After the♪♫ Who lives in a pirate ship, over the sea? Edward Kenway! ♪♫ Who lives in a pirate ship, over the sea? Edward Kenway, Edward Kenway, Ed-d-dward Kenway! Sea shanties play a huge role in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (such as the one I attempted to make, sing it using the Spongebob theme), mainly because most of the game you will be sailing your ship. At first, this is fun. After the first few hours it started to get repetitive for me as I would be doing the same thing; incapacitating a ship, then boarding it. Other than the sea potions, the game also takes place on land. The gameplay is fun for the most part, except for when I started getting bored of sailing my ship. If being a captain of the high seas is your thing, ignore what I said about it being boring. The land portions are entertaining. The story is where this game is weak, you spend the whole story doing something that, for me at least, did not seam very interesting. I had no ambition to play the outside of animus story either as it doesn't really develop into as much as I had hoped. However, the characters are interesting in this game. I was really interested in the lives of Edward's companions, such as Blackbeard; I was also interested in Edward's past. This game rates a 6/10, it is a good game.… Expand
  65. Nel
    Dec 10, 2016
    7
    Classic Assasin's creed game, usually don't disappoint, and this one didn't do it either. The game has several fun and different modes you can do, and is a vast game there is potential to spend several hours just exploring and collecting things.
  66. njja02
    May 15, 2018
    5
    The exploration is fun along with the ship mechanics, but the Assassin's Creed stuff was just so repetitive and boring. Constant trailing missions and a messy story kind of ruined a lot of this game, which is a shame.
  67. MadFaker
    Nov 1, 2015
    6
    Great visuals. Great concept with the pirate/assassin story. Would really give this a higher score if I didn't play its predecessors. It got repetitive. Back then, I enjoyed assassinating and sneaking around but now it just made me realize that I have been playing the the games every release and it has bored me. Don't get me wrong, AC4 Black Flag has great visuals, great interactionGreat visuals. Great concept with the pirate/assassin story. Would really give this a higher score if I didn't play its predecessors. It got repetitive. Back then, I enjoyed assassinating and sneaking around but now it just made me realize that I have been playing the the games every release and it has bored me. Don't get me wrong, AC4 Black Flag has great visuals, great interaction between being an assassin and being a pirate. I really do enjoyed the pirate thing. But again it has been repetitive in ways I cannot explain. Would still recommend this if your new to the Assassin's Creed franchise but for people who played the past games I may not recommend this.… Expand
  68. filip92
    Jan 6, 2023
    6
    Story and some missions overall are nice, but the thing that frustrated me the most is that the game constantly wants you to upgrade your ship so you could be competitive in the naval missions in the game. You must play side missions to do that, and they are very boring and the whole expirience felt like a grind. I come home from the job, want to relax and feel the story (which is good)Story and some missions overall are nice, but the thing that frustrated me the most is that the game constantly wants you to upgrade your ship so you could be competitive in the naval missions in the game. You must play side missions to do that, and they are very boring and the whole expirience felt like a grind. I come home from the job, want to relax and feel the story (which is good) but i get sick when i see ''You should upgrade Jackdaw before starting this mission'' . I think that it is tottaly unnecesary because without that grind, the game is good and fun. Combat is ok, sailing is so immersive,in this game i think you can really ''feel the ocean'' . Also,when pirates start to chant while you sail is music for the ears. But you know Ubisoft, they love to put grinding in their games,especially nowadays. This game could be much better without that stuff, only because of that this game cannot get more than 6.… Expand
  69. Abhaygamin2002
    Sep 20, 2016
    7
    I borrowed this from my friend and played this game till the end.the story was amazing,nice characters,amazing graphics I remember playing this game for hours.buy it for not more than 20$.
  70. Lewis-Angelo
    Nov 15, 2018
    6
    puedo decir que lo más destacable de esta entrega son un par de temas de la banda sonora, porque la historia va sin rumbo hasta que naufraga al final
    otro intento fallido de crear un personaje interesante, y de seguir los arcos argumentales que ya no dan para más
    el combate, tanto a pié como en barco estaba mejor en AC3, en medio de una batalla puedes ponerte tranquilamente a abordar    puedo decir que lo más destacable de esta entrega son un par de temas de la banda sonora, porque la historia va sin rumbo hasta que naufraga al final
    otro intento fallido de crear un personaje interesante, y de seguir los arcos argumentales que ya no dan para más

    el combate, tanto a pié como en barco estaba mejor en AC3, en medio de una batalla puedes ponerte tranquilamente a abordar barcos, en los cuales los aliados estorban más de lo que ayudan...

    recién terminado y con un montonazo de iconos y cosas secundarias por hacer, un 51% de progresión con el mismo equipo desde el principio, caza y fabricación de objetos desaprovechada, sin un duro para mejorar el barco, y lo repetitivo que llega a ser cada batalla naval

    y en las misiones principales se pasan también con el sigilo, muy poca variedad, la mitad del tiempo con el muñeco en un arbusto siguiendo gente

    está muy lejos de ser un Assassin's Creed como AC2 y Brotherhood
    Brotherhood>AC2>AC3>Revelations>Black Flag>AC1    … Expand
  71. hawkeye766
    Sep 28, 2016
    6
    Assasin's Creed: Black Flag is an ambitious and well constructed game, that offers decent combat and an immersive landscape, but ultimately devolves into a nearly impossible grind.
    If you like pirates, then this game is definitely worth checking out at least. A gripping seafaring soundtrack, excellent world design and perfect renditions of notorious historical figures brings the    Assasin's Creed: Black Flag is an ambitious and well constructed game, that offers decent combat and an immersive landscape, but ultimately devolves into a nearly impossible grind.
    If you like pirates, then this game is definitely worth checking out at least. A gripping seafaring soundtrack, excellent world design and perfect renditions of notorious historical figures brings the authenticity level insanely high. As Edward Kenway, you are able to do all of the things one would want in a pirate game, like sword fighting, gambling, finding treasure, and even boarding ships. Nothing is greater than wearing down an enemy ship's defenses, boarding it, and climbing the rigging to reach the enemy flag, and cutting it off of the mast.
    With all that said, the rest of the game is unfortunately pretty mediocre. The story is so disconnected, because of so many objectives that are not narrative based that it can be hard to really care about the the characters, and what's happening to them. Also, rather than play as Edward Kenway, you actually playing as some random guy, living through the memories of Edward Kenway. For some reason, they thought it was a good Idea to give this Random Guy missions as well, which generally consist of walking around, and giving a file to someone, or downloading something from a certain computer, It's really quite boring, when all you really want to do is slice the crap out of some royal soldiers.
    AC4 offers decent fighting, but nothing really interesting. The first couple battles are cool, but you eventually get used to it, and basically as long as you keep pressing circle and square, you are fine. The parkour mechanics are cool, but really, how many shanty towns usually have dudes running on rooftops? come on now.
    While the melee controls are decent, the stealth mechanics are the worst in any game I've ever played. There is no way to crouch, or take cover, the only option is blending with people, bushes, and unusually common haywagons. This seems to be a game where the general idea is to rush in slicing and dicing, until nobody is left, which is all well and good, unless the game requires you stay hidden. Trying to sneak into an enemy fortress, is nearly impossible when the game desynchronizes as soon as anyone sees you. This was the most dissapointing part of the game, because I know Ubisoft is capable of some killer stealth gameplay. The most recent splinter cell installment was hands down the best stealth i've ever played. AC4 is awful in comparison.
    Most of the side objectives, raiding ships, forts, and looking for treasure are fun the first time but past that very boring and formulaic. Naval contracts are mostly impossible, and leave the player feeling pretty bored.
    I almost wish that AC4 was a rail based game, or perhaps made in the "wide-linear" style. There is quite simply too much going on to get into the game. Were it a more spontaneous story with the elements of this game incorporated into it, it would have been far more engaging.    … Expand
  72. spongecat
    Aug 29, 2017
    7
    It’s one of my favorite AC installment, but I do agree with the complain of repetition throughout the game, it’s a great effort though. For origins i really want to be surprised with fresh and new tactics and ideas, I hope Ubisoft comes through.
  73. Ajbras
    Jun 25, 2018
    7
    I went into playing AC4 with low expectations seeing that its nearing 5 years old. To an extent I was correct - the graphics and gameplay do seem dated. That being said this was a great change of pace from the last few AC games I played (way behind on the series which is why I'm going back). The setting was refreshing and really made the game enjoyable. The Caribbean was nicely done andI went into playing AC4 with low expectations seeing that its nearing 5 years old. To an extent I was correct - the graphics and gameplay do seem dated. That being said this was a great change of pace from the last few AC games I played (way behind on the series which is why I'm going back). The setting was refreshing and really made the game enjoyable. The Caribbean was nicely done and exploring remote islands was very enjoyable. The naval combat was my highlight of the gameplay. When traversing through the different cities in the game I regularly got frustrated with the controls as Edward climbed up walls I didn't intend for him to and took leaps at bad times. The combat is largely unchanged from prior AC games - so this feels very much the same. I love AC for the historical elements and different settings - but I need to take long breaks between playing because they all feel the same to me. I look forward to continuing the story - but I'll be taking a break once again.… Expand
  74. alexslork
    Nov 3, 2019
    5
    Самая ненавистная часть для меня. Я ее просто терпеть не могу.
  75. Dark_Huntress
    Jan 14, 2019
    6
    This game would be great if it was only a pirate game, not an AC, but being what it is, it fails as an AC and as a pirate game. The AC franchise had its strongest point on the plot, but Black Flag is where everything starts to confuse you: the brotherhood is secondary and lame, the missions are plain boring and all the present day story is a mess.
    The world is big, but full of repetitive    This game would be great if it was only a pirate game, not an AC, but being what it is, it fails as an AC and as a pirate game. The AC franchise had its strongest point on the plot, but Black Flag is where everything starts to confuse you: the brotherhood is secondary and lame, the missions are plain boring and all the present day story is a mess.
    The world is big, but full of repetitive things, like small islands with only a chest in it or big cities full of pointless collectibles.
    The strong point of this game is being a pirate: naval battles, basically. This part was limited by the fact they tried to make this game look like an AC by putting a "deep plot" other than just... pirate things? The results: a very, very ok game.    … Expand
  76. mrkp
    Jan 14, 2020
    6
    сначало вроде ничего, выход и сражения в море интересны и красивы, но после пяти - шести часов однообразие и скучный сюжет надоедают
  77. Leontorres7
    Nov 15, 2018
    7
    A really good game, there are lots of cool things about it and it is a lot of fun to play.
  78. Zeratex
    Feb 11, 2019
    5
    This is where AC franchise started to go downhill, by expanding its open world so much, when AC2 was released the open world was fine not too big, here it got too big so that it makes you lose interest after a while because of its boring side missions and bad combat, it just looks good from graphics stand point, thats it, and the story is also not bad, everything else gets repetitive andThis is where AC franchise started to go downhill, by expanding its open world so much, when AC2 was released the open world was fine not too big, here it got too big so that it makes you lose interest after a while because of its boring side missions and bad combat, it just looks good from graphics stand point, thats it, and the story is also not bad, everything else gets repetitive and dull easily with few hours.

    Average game.
    5.5/10    … Expand
  79. ToshLichev
    Jun 21, 2020
    7
    A good game that should have never bared the AC logo imo. Not an Assassin's Creed game in any way, shape or form. That aside, it can be quite fun at times, the story and characters are interesting enough and the setting is pretty cool. Major con - ship stealth, the whole ship aspect is annoying enough as it is for me, but ship stealth? Are you f***ing serious?
  80. Justinonye15
    May 29, 2022
    5
    Fun controls and an immersive game with a beautiful open world feel, the main character is fun to play with and the story is interesting asf
  81. MazrimTaim14
    Oct 16, 2019
    6
    Such as waste that this wasnt solely a pirate game. the mechanics and upgrade of the ship battles were amazing. too bad the pace is all over the place due to the present day (as always) and the assassin story line.Still, a huge improvement over the blandfest of AC3.
  82. dayungvinci
    Apr 13, 2020
    7
    Das Spiel ist an sich gut. Doch es gibt sehr viele Sachen die stören: Die Steuerung: JUNGE WIE SOLL ICH DAUERND R2 HALTEN KÖNNEN ICH HATTE NACH 15 MIN SPIELEN EINEN KRAMPF IN DER HAND
    Die Story: ich habe die Story von Anfang an nicht verstanden. Die Story ist keine Story.
    Die Grafik: die Grafik ist gealtert, das merkt man, aber da es ein 2013 Spiel ist sollte man sich nicht darüber    Das Spiel ist an sich gut. Doch es gibt sehr viele Sachen die stören: Die Steuerung: JUNGE WIE SOLL ICH DAUERND R2 HALTEN KÖNNEN ICH HATTE NACH 15 MIN SPIELEN EINEN KRAMPF IN DER HAND
    Die Story: ich habe die Story von Anfang an nicht verstanden. Die Story ist keine Story.
    Die Grafik: die Grafik ist gealtert, das merkt man, aber da es ein 2013 Spiel ist sollte man sich nicht darüber aufregen. Ich empfehle dieses Spiel wirklich nur im Sale, es ist nicht so gut.    … Expand
  83. KasperNyvang
    Jun 21, 2020
    6
    Well it's a really good pirate game, with a bit of assassin tossed into the mix
  84. PaektusanLeader
    Jun 24, 2020
    7
    Quite a decent game, but the mechanics are quite weird. The story is alright as well.
  85. Flammie
    Nov 9, 2021
    7
    Assassin's creed black flag is a western style RPG / stealth action adventure with a pirate theme and heavy emphasis on sailing and ship warfare on top of typical assassin stuff. It is definitely a triple-A product with high production quality, the plot is well written, the graphics are cool and acting is good. One of the biggest problem for me is controls and the overall experience, thisAssassin's creed black flag is a western style RPG / stealth action adventure with a pirate theme and heavy emphasis on sailing and ship warfare on top of typical assassin stuff. It is definitely a triple-A product with high production quality, the plot is well written, the graphics are cool and acting is good. One of the biggest problem for me is controls and the overall experience, this is the first assassin's creed that I played so maybe it's just not for me, but I find that the game overall is super slow to control. I get it that it's mainly stealth game but e.g. stealth in Batman Arkham series, Spiderman or Metal Gear Solids are all more controllable for me to play. The last straw with the controls for me is that you have to run to do most things and running usually causes the character to jump or climb just the wrong thing, so most failure's are more like problem with controls than my own fault. The sailing part is fun for a while but becomes monotonous way before you have collected all the ports, ships, etc. etc. To summarise I'd say I played first 66,6 % of the game being excited and enjoying myself and then sprinted through the last 33,3 % just to see the ending that I was only half-interested in anymore.… Expand
  86. Bit_Line
    Mar 27, 2022
    7
    THIS REVIEW IS FOR RUSSIAN SPEAKING PLAYERS!

    Это стала моей первой игрой в серией, и выбрал именно ее, так как вместе с трилогией Эцио называли одной из лучших в серии. Культа вокруг проекта я не понял, и сейчас поясню за плюсы и минусы проекта. Плюсы: 1. Разнообразие активностей. Что в море, что на земле у тебя естт просто куча активностей. В море хочешь - бери на абордаж корабли,    THIS REVIEW IS FOR RUSSIAN SPEAKING PLAYERS!

    Это стала моей первой игрой в серией, и выбрал именно ее, так как вместе с трилогией Эцио называли одной из лучших в серии. Культа вокруг проекта я не понял, и сейчас поясню за плюсы и минусы проекта.

    Плюсы: 1. Разнообразие активностей. Что в море, что на земле у тебя естт просто куча активностей. В море хочешь - бери на абордаж корабли, хочешь - охоться на акул и китов, хочешь - выполняй морские доп задания, хочешь - захватывай крепости и так далее. На земле еще больше активностей - сундуки, карты сокровищ, охота, контракты на убийства, испытания абстерго и так далее. 2. Морские баталии. Морской геймплей намного интереснее, чем на земле. Пиратская атмосфера, много активностей, различные тактики ведения боя, разные погодные условия (туман, водяные смерчи, волны-убийцы). В минусы можно записать только периодически неудобное управление. 3. Паркур. Простой, понятный, эффектный, что еще надо? 4. Графика. От игры 2013 я ждал меньшего, а тут она не просто не вырвиглазная, а даже выдает красивые моменты. Минусы: 1. Наземный геймплей. Геймплей здесь буквально двухкнопрчный - удар саблями/блок. Пытались различными методами разнообразить (дротики, пистолет), но не сделали таким же эффективным, как открытый бой. 2. Сюжет. Он никак не интригует, особенно если идешь не тупо по сюжету, а исследуешь мир. Особенно это видно в моментах, где у тебя должны быть эмоции, но их нет из-за разнообразных причин - от малого экранного времени до нераскрытия персонажа 3. Отсутствие мотивации. Все исследование мира построено лишь на твоем энтузиазме, лишь пара активностей хоть как-то вознаграждается (камни майя в пример). Пропадет энтузиазм - не захочешь исследовать мир, так как кроме как накопления валюты для прокачки оно ничем не прикреплено. Итог. Измененная формула ассассинов с морскими баталиями стала бы успешная, если бы не постный сюжет и скучный наземный геймплей. За небольшую сумму однозначно советую (купил за 400 рублей сам), но за фулпрайс не брать.    … Expand
  87. Young__fool
    Mar 9, 2023
    6
    I like almost everything about this game, the characters, the combat and the setting. but to be completeley honest i don't really like the ship combat that much at least i don't like it as much as i really want to. I really want to love it but i just can't. and since the game is focused on ships and that kinda stuff i don't get to experience the parts of the game that i like.
    In my    I like almost everything about this game, the characters, the combat and the setting. but to be completeley honest i don't really like the ship combat that much at least i don't like it as much as i really want to. I really want to love it but i just can't. and since the game is focused on ships and that kinda stuff i don't get to experience the parts of the game that i like.
    In my opinion it's an okay game but if you wan't a lot of good ground combat go play AC unity instead.    … Expand
  88. EKYR
    Nov 21, 2022
    7
    arrrrrrrrrrr m8ty

    this is the best and only pirate game i have played im not sure how Ubisoft made such a great game out of an Assassins creed game ofc comes witih the normal AC game problems boring story rubbish characters other than Edward the dialogue is god awful but i love the feeling that the sea shanties and pirate ship atmosphere makes you so immersed into being a pirate    arrrrrrrrrrr m8ty

    this is the best and only pirate game i have played
    im not sure how Ubisoft made such a great game out of an Assassins creed game
    ofc comes witih the normal AC game problems
    boring story
    rubbish characters other than Edward
    the dialogue is god awful
    but i love the feeling that the sea shanties and pirate ship atmosphere makes you so immersed into being a pirate more than an assassin, Edward is my favourite asssasin ever in this series. i hope Ubisoft makes the next AC game on par with this.
    7.5    … Expand
  89. goodgriff33
    Dec 24, 2022
    7
    Answer: 75 characters is between 10 words and 19 words with spaces included in the character count. If spaces are not included in the character count, then 75 characters is between 12 words and 25 words.
  90. Killerpummkin
    Aug 10, 2023
    7
    It's good, but you don't enjoy it, with the money they spend, it could be much better, but it's good enough.

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best PS4 Game of 2013
3
#3 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2013
4
#4 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. GamingTrend
    Apr 20, 2014
    90
    The PlayStation 4 version of the game is mechanically the same as the PlayStation 3 version, but the new engine is eye-poppingly awesome.
    Read full review
  2. Merlin'in Kazanı (Turkey)
    Jan 30, 2014
    83
    Ubisoft significantly improved the multiplayer side of things. Also, story takes you places.
    Read full review
  3. Thunderbolt
    Jan 4, 2014
    80
    It’s difficult to imagine Assassin’s Creed ever leaving the sea behind.
    Read full review
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