Raise anchors matey! It’s time to set sail…again!
Assassins Creed IV Black Flag originally launched in October of 2013 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo WII U. And then again for the PS4, PC, and Xbox One a month later and again later for the Nintendo Switch. After the successes of Assassins Creed, Assassins Creed II, and Brotherhood, Revelations and Assassins Creed III were not as well received due to their buggy nature and repetitive and sometimes bland storyline. It was time for Ubisoft to try something different. While pulling from all of the former titles they were able to create something special. The pirate game Black Flag was born. And while some weren’t sure we needed a pirate game, they quickly found out that what was developed was exactly what was needed to revive the franchise. As Edward Kenway, you play the part of an aspiring pirate that gets tangled into the vast war between the Assassins and the Templars. A war that had been waged for centuries. And while Edward has no intentions of getting involved, the people he meets along his journey help to pull him in the direction of the assassins. As you make your way across the Bahamas, pirating, drinking, brawling, swashbuckling and adventuring, you begin to conform to the ways of the assassins.
In 2013 AC IV was well received with most review scores coming in at around mid to high 8’s with a Metacritic score between 86-88/100. Most fans claimed it was the best of the series for the time. The changes they made to the modern-day story was a big change now that the Desmond Miles story had come to an abrupt conclusion. They still maintained some historical narrative while trying to give the franchise a new set of legs, and it was working. The question was, for how long?
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $59.99
Fast forward 13 years to today. Now I have gone on record to say that not every game needs a remaster or remake. Sometimes it is just best to remember how a game was when you first experienced it. I will also go on record to say that I am a huge Assassins Creed fan, for better or worse. I have played every main story in the franchise as well as some of the obscure titles. So, when asked to review this particular Assassins Creed, I was worried that I would look at it through rose colored glasses and see the game optimistically. So, I have taken it upon myself to try to find the cracks in the details and to see if this is a re-skin of its older self, or to see if it is truly a remake. And after putting in over 30+ hours in a short amount of time, this is what I have found so far.
When you boot the game, right off the bat you notice that they have incorporated it into the new Assassins Creed hub. The one they have been using for Origins, Odyssey, Mirage, Valhalla, and Shadows. Nothing ground breaking as this is likely the platform they will be using for the foreseeable future. Once in the game it immediately feel like you are at home. Except for one glaring change near the beginning of the game that has been stripped away. I literally had to start up the original game and start a new save to see if I was remembering things differently. Afterall, it has been 13 years. Sure enough, after you get through the initial sequence that introduces you to the character, in the original game you are thrust into a modern day of Abstergo where you navigate to your “new” post. Where they explain that you are testing some entertainment technology that puts you into the lives of these historical figures all while secretly working for the Templars in the modern day.
That part of the story seemed like was kind of shoe-horned into the game to replace the Desmond story line… All of that is gone! There is no more modern-day story that I have found with the exception of entering glitches that hint to things in the modern day. Other than that, you have a totally uninterrupted time playing as Edward Kenway. When I played the original game, I never cared much for the modern-day stuff and just blazed my way through those sections in order to get back to being a pirate. So obviously, Ubisoft wanted to bring the narrative closer to that of the newer Creed games like Shadows, where there is no mention of the modern-day story. Interesting.
Other that the minor changes to the original story they have mostly kept true to the original story but they did add a few new side quests and minor story additions. If it has been a while, you may not remember every little story beat. So how much did they really change in the game itself? Well, to start off, you will notice if you’ve recently played the original game, the load times of the remake are super short. The original game was almost painful with wait times for fast travelling and any time you had to load into a new area. Sometimes up to a minute or more.
The next thing you will immediately notice that they have adapted to the modern controls akin to the newer titles. You use the bumpers and triggers for attacks and parries rather than relying on face buttons for attacks and counters. This is particularly refreshing since the last four games have adopted these controls. It also feels more natural than the original. Maybe because of playing the newer games or maybe because most newer games outside of this series utilize similar controls.
But the most important change to the game that was made is the graphical changes. This is not just a remaster where they have just slapped a fresh coat of paint on an old game and send it out. Assassins Creed Black Flag Resynced has been completely redone from top to bottom with Ubisoft’s newest Anvil Engine. That same engine that has been used in the more recent AC titles. Now, for a game that came out in 2013 and looked amazing for its time on the” then” current consoles, it is jaw droppingly stunning. Everything from the ocean to all of the islands to the vistas and forts have been re-done in amazing 4K fidelity. The details are impressive and the colors of the islands are so much more colorful and detailed. Even the finisher moves have been re-done like the newer games, adding a slow-motion effect to the finishing move that make fights seem more visceral and satisfying. The character renderings also seem to look more natural and less plastic like as they were in the original game. There is even a setting in the menus that allows you to switch from fidelity mode to performance mode. While performance mode seems to smooth out a few framerate issues, it really doesn’t take a lot away from the graphics. And while in fidelity mode it looks great, you may notice a few graphical glitches and slow down, but definitely not as bad as some of the glitches from the original game.
One of my favorite things from the original game is the collection of the sea shanties. While piloting your vessel out in the open waters your crew will burst out into merriment in the form of singing a sea shanty. They have brought that back and added a few new songs as well and you grow your collection of shanties by collecting them at various stops by chasing down the pages floating neat a roof top somewhere. You can prompt your crew to sing as well as change to whatever song is in your list. As with the modern games you can select a destination and set the pathfinder and with a press of the button you can have your ship automatically follow that path so you can just sit back and enjoy the music and the scenery. And when it comes to the scenery there is a lot of it to discover. From harpooning a whale to the vicious storms that roll in while sailing, there is a lot of beauty and rage to behold.
The big question is, was this a worthy remake or is this just a money grab for a newer generation of players who may not have ever played the original? While some may argue the latter point, I would say the game is retailing for $59.99 for the standard edition so its not like they are charging current prices for new games yet there is enough content for someone new to the game to definitely get their moneys worth. And while $60 may seem like a lot for a game that originally released in 2013, it is safe to say that this is not the same game with a fresh coat of paint. You can definitely see the efforts that they put in to making this a special remake. And while the super fan in me is screaming that this is a must buy, I also realize that some might not want to replay a game of this caliber. Although it has been enough years since I last played the original that I had forgotten a lot of the plot points so, this new version very much felt like a new game to me.
One that was familiar but new enough that I could appreciate the story all over again. Having just enough memories from the original to make me smile yet at the same time being able to discover new things again. And I know that you may probably think that maybe I just didn’t play the original far enough to remember everything that happened. But I can say that when I played the original, I completed it 100%. The reason I love the series is because I am the type of person that loves to explore and unlock new areas of the map. Many of the games in the series I have sunk (pun intended) over 100 hours into one game or another in the series. In Odyssey I think I cam in at around 150 – 160 hours. And while I don’t have the exact amount of time I put into the original, I can remember that I had unlocked every area, chest, and side story in the game totaling well over 100 hours.
So, is this a flawless game? It certainly is not nor is any other Assassins Creed game. There will always be moments where things don’t look right. A few frame rate drops. Times where textures pop in to view after loading. And there will always be a few Ubisoft bugs running around, If you have played these games over the years then you know what I mean by “Ubisoft bugs”. But this is the closest to being a perfect game by Ubisoft. I like I said in the beginning of the review, I went into this looking for the flaws and to compare it to the original. After all, if they didn’t improve on it then it would just be another remaster with a fresh coat of paint in order to make people buy the same game as before. But this feels different. Fresh. And boy does it show in the presentation. Ubisoft has really put in some work to make this iconic game look and feel like a new experience. And while I have stated that not every game needs a remake, this one gives me hope that maybe in the future, we might see a “Resync” of my favorite games of the series being the Ezio Trilogy. Please Ubisoft make that happen and I will play that all over again. But for now, Arg! It’s good to be a pirate!
Review copy of game provided by publisher.