Black Flag has a lot to live up to.
The latest instalment in the acclaimed Assassin’s Creed series has all the hallmarks of an afterthought — or a sequel released purely for the money.
The main story of Desmond Myles, the modern guy whose memories link the memories of all the assassins we’ve met, was abruptly resolved in Assassin’s Creed III.
The sequential order of the series has been upset — we go back 50 years before the events of ACIII for this instalment.
We don’t even play an assassin — Edward Kenway is a pirate who kills an assassin and takes his equipment.
But don’t let cynicism turn you off. Black Flag is one of the finest instalments in the series — yes, it’s up there with the Ezio sequence of ACII.
The first time I slipped Black Flag into my console, I played it for 14 hours solid. That doesn’t happen to me much these days, and it’s a tribute to just how gripping the game is.
It’s not hard to say why. Everything we expect from an Assassin’s Creed game is there — sneaking, cool swordplay, and a world to explore.
But the focus is on the ship sequences introduced in ACIII. And, since the emphasis is on piracy, you can pretty much pick and choose your battles: do you want that nice, fat merchantman, or do you think you can take that Spanish brig’ o’war.
The Caribbean is recreated with the attention to historical detail the series has become famous for. Havana, Nassau, Tortuga ... it’s all there.
It’s clear Ubisoft have bought into the same mindset as Rockstar did with Red Dead Redemption: if you’re going to be a pirate, you should get a chance to do everything pirates did.
Cutting out a Spanish galleon, establishing a hidden base, swinging from ropes to board your victims, hunting on uninhabited islands, shooting, shipwrecks, treasure maps, saving fellow pirates from the hangman’s noose, harpooning sharks .... everything is there.
And then there’s the storyline. Not only has our Edward Kenway stolen an assassin’s gear, it soon becomes apparent the assassin he killed was working for the Templars — and thus, so does Edward. At first, anyway.
With Desmond Myles out of the frame in the modern world, we have a new interface for the hidden memories. It seems Desmond’s memories have fallen into the hands of a game development studio, Abstergo, who are creating a pirate-based game for Ubisoft, and our modern-day persona has been hired to sift through them.
I’m not sure whether that’s breaking the fourth wall or bricking you up inside it. Either way, it’s rather postmodern.
And needless to say, it’s clear there’s more than just a video game going on. Somone, somewhere wants the secrets still locked inside Desmond’s mind.
Head into multiplayer, and you can build a fleet with other players to head out on the high seas in force — but beware: there are pirates out there.
If you’re in any doubt about Black Flag, doubt no more. It’s a top-notch game — and utterly addictive.
Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate’s life for me!
Box:
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Action sneaker
Platforms: PC, PS3. PS4. Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U
Version tested: PS3
Star rating: 4.5/5
