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PlayStation 3
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Nintendo Wii U
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Product Features

Genre
Action and Shooter
Publisher
Ubisoft
Release Date
November 22, 2013
Available Platforms
PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Wii U, XBox 360, XBox One

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Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag

Assassins Creed IV Black Flag PS4 is set in the year is 1715. Pirates rule the Caribbean and have established their own lawless Republic where corruption, greediness, and cruelty are commonplace. Among these outlaws is a brash young captain named Edward Kenway. His fight for glory has earned him the respect of legends like Blackbeard, but also drawn him into the ancient war between Assassins and Templars, a war that may destroy everything the pirates have built.Welcome to the Golden Age of Piracy.A brash rebel AssassinBecome Edward Kenway, a charismatic yet brutal pirate captain trained by Assassins. Edward can effortlessly switch between the Hidden Blade of the Assassin's Order and all new weaponry, including four flintlock pistols and dual cutlass swords.Explore an open world filled with...

  • Greg Butler December 02, 2013 PS3
    ****

    I have always enjoyed the Assassin's Creed games. Their mixture of historical detail, unusual environments and well-conceived storytelling has always made them one of the most rewarding series in the open-world/stealth genre, and even at their weakest - which, for me, was last year's Assassin's Creed 3 - they have always been lots of fun to play.

    The lastest entry in the franchise, "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag", represents yet another temporal transition in a series that has always kept things fresh by switching the action between different historical eras. This time, it's the golden age of piracy that is your playground, transporting you to the Caribbean in 1715 and casting you in the role of Edward Kenway, who is the father and grandfather of Assassin's Creed 3's two main characters.

    The new setting offers up some very different gameplay experiences, both in terms of how the game looks and feels and also the kind of tasks you are required to undertake. Visually, it provides a beautiful environment to explore, with all the lush and vivid colour that you'd expect from the Caribbean setting, in contrast to the more muted tones of previous games. And the various networks of villages, townships and larger uninhabited areas on islands and the mainland offer plenty of variety for those who prefer to use these games for exploration, rather than simply following the mission structure obediently.

    Unlike previous games, there is the opportunity to do plenty of exploring by sea - as you would expect in a pirate-based story - with your ship, the Jackdaw, carrying you from place to place. There are also undersea sections and treasure-hunting quests, as well as a spyglass device that allows you to check out other locations and ships from far away, before deciding whether to investigate further. These are all fairly minor additions to the gameplay, but they add up to produce a game that feels quite different to its predecessors in a lot of small ways.

    Additionally, the present-day sections of the game also now have quite a different feel, thanks to the absence of the series' former modern-day protagonist, Desmond Miles. Following the conclusion of Desmond's story in Assassin's Creed 3, this leaves Assassin's Creed 4 free to modify the contemporary sections of the game - which provide the framing device that allows us to to go back and revisit all these historical eras - enabling these sections to be less obtrusive and tedious than the Desmond sections of previous games.

    But having said all that, a lot of the key elements of the Assassin's Creed series have been kept intact: such as the stealth aspect, the free-running, and the story that revolves around the secrets of the mysterious Templars. It's enough to make it feel very much like a part of the larger Assassin's Creed series while also allowing it to stand alone on its own two feet. Even if you had never played any of the other games in the franchise before, you could probably still get a lot out of this, as everything is explained quite clearly and feels quite accessible, even if you might miss one or two of the smaller references to previous characters and plotlines.

    The Playstation 3 version also features around an hour of exclusive material that cannot be found on other console versions, comprising three missions featuring the female assassin Aveline de Grandpré from the earlier Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation spin-off title. So if you are not sure which version to buy and you have the option, I would definitely suggest that the Playstation 3 version would be the best one to choose.

    With an exotic setting, some beautiful graphics, an engaging lead character and some innovative new gameplay elements, this is perhaps the best entry in the series since the wonderful Assassin's Creed 2.