#ASSASSINS CREED BLACK FLAG PS4#

While Edward might not have the charm of AC2вЂ™s Ezio, heвЂ™s still a more engaging protagonist than AC3вЂ™s grumpy Connor and has a more interesting story arc. This is AssassinвЂ™s Creed meets Pirates of the Caribbean.Д«lack Flag also shows that Ubisoft has listened to some of the complaints about AssassinвЂ™s Creed 3. Meanwhile, Black Flag takes the naval action that was a sideline in AC3 and puts it centre-frame, and while youвЂ™ll still spend hours climbing up tall buildings, performing parkour runs across the rooftops and tackling guards and targets with pistol, hidden blades or sword, youвЂ™ll spend just as much time on the waves, wrecking ships with broadsides and looting their cargo.

Our hero, Edward Kenway, eventual father to AC3вЂ™s Haytham Kenway and grandfather to Connor, doesnвЂ™t even start the game as an Assassin, but as a greedy privateer. Just as AC3 was all about taking the series out of the city and into the wild frontier, so AC4 takes the action to a new stage to the deep blue seas of the Spanish Main during the golden age of piracy. ThatвЂ™s not to say that itвЂ™s all same old, same old. DonвЂ™t get us wrong: when itвЂ™s good, Black Flag is absolutely brilliant, but thereвЂ™s a lot thatвЂ™s too familiar or simply, well, too much. Inevitably, then, itвЂ™s the victim of AssassinвЂ™s Creed fatigue, and of inheriting such a bloated mass of game features, mechanics, back-story and assorted nonsense. Yet where AssassinвЂ™s Creed 2 had only one game behind it, Black Flag has the misfortune to have five.

ItвЂ™s a lighter, tighter, more palatable follow-up that transforms a near miss into a decent game. In a way, it bears the same relation to AssassinвЂ™s Creed 3 (which weвЂ™ve liked less as timeвЂ™s gone on) that AssassinвЂ™s Creed 2 shared to the original game.

Taken purely on its own merits itвЂ™s one of the best games in the series, stronger than AssassinвЂ™s Creed and AssassinвЂ™s Creed 3 even if it canвЂ™t quite match the standards set by AssassinвЂ™s Creed 2 or Brotherhood. I feel sorry for AssassinвЂ™s Creed 4: Black Flag.

#ASSASSINS CREED BLACK FLAG PS4#

Available on Xbox 360 (tested), PS3 (PC, Wii U, Xbox One and PS4 to follow)

Assassins creed black flag