By Tomas Keavney
With the recent announcement of the sixth game in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, comes a rather polarised set of reactions from the game’s fans. Playing this time around as Edward Kenway, the swashbuckling pirate assassin, we are set to be treated with another helping of the lineage that Assassin’s Creed 3 gave us. Edward, the grandfather of Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor), and father of the Templar, Haytham, already seems to be a much more fleshed out character than Ratonhnhaké:ton ever was. He’s set to be greedy, ruthless and charming, all in equal measure (everything that you would want a pirate to be), and he’s an assassin, too.
With the recent announcement of the sixth game in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, comes a rather polarised set of reactions from the game’s fans. Playing this time around as Edward Kenway, the swashbuckling pirate assassin, we are set to be treated with another helping of the lineage that Assassin’s Creed 3 gave us. Edward, the grandfather of Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor), and father of the Templar, Haytham, already seems to be a much more fleshed out character than Ratonhnhaké:ton ever was. He’s set to be greedy, ruthless and charming, all in equal measure (everything that you would want a pirate to be), and he’s an assassin, too.
What we’ve been told of the game already sounds more interesting than Ratonhnhaké:ton’s story, in terms of personality, at least. Gone are the two-dimensional, lifeless one liners that we had to put up with from Ratonhnhaké:ton, and in is the chance for us to have a protagonist that might even rival the appeal of Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
This all seems well and good, but what has been the sticking point with most fans is the idea of the game being a bit too H20 centered. Ubisoft have done their best to dissuade people from worrying too much (I’m sure haystacks will still feature in this game), saying that the transition between sea and land will be immersive and very much individually centered (choosing to land on beaches whenever the player sees fit for Edward to do so). As well as all that, it looks like we’ll see Ubisoft’s effort at bringing underwater combat into the game, as Edward has been seen to fight sharks in a teaser video! We have been told that the game will feature roughly a 50/50 split of naval combat (which promises to be even better than the last game) and the traditional rooftop escapades that we’re used to. That just doesn’t seem enough for some people though.
This all seems well and good, but what has been the sticking point with most fans is the idea of the game being a bit too H20 centered. Ubisoft have done their best to dissuade people from worrying too much (I’m sure haystacks will still feature in this game), saying that the transition between sea and land will be immersive and very much individually centered (choosing to land on beaches whenever the player sees fit for Edward to do so). As well as all that, it looks like we’ll see Ubisoft’s effort at bringing underwater combat into the game, as Edward has been seen to fight sharks in a teaser video! We have been told that the game will feature roughly a 50/50 split of naval combat (which promises to be even better than the last game) and the traditional rooftop escapades that we’re used to. That just doesn’t seem enough for some people though.
To the more critical Assassin’s Creed players, things have apparently been going downhill ever since the second game. There’s no doubt that Ezio was a much more fleshed out character (even after one games worth of play) than Ratonhnhaké:ton, and Desmond’s story was fairly weak in AC3, despite it being his last outing. It looks like these factors have all culminated in many people losing interest, not to mention the worry that Ubisoft’s once-a-year release is dangerously close to becoming the sort of quick churning production line rubbish that Call of Duty has turned into of late. But here’s the point of it all; I’m still giddy with excitement for the new game.
Assassin’s Creed was my introduction to proper video gaming, and I’ve followed the story right from Altaïr’s beginnings to Ratonhnhaké:ton effectively securing the fate of Western civilisation in AC3. I’ve seen the torturous repetition of the first game’s ‘eavesdrop, follow, assassinate’ structure turn into treetop lynching by the hands of a shaven headed Mohawk, which makes me think that things can only get better in future. There’s no need to worry about Desmond boring us in modern day sequences any more (here’s hoping our next modern day character might even succumb to a bit of fall damage every now and then, too); there’s the chance for Edward to bring some interesting character traits to the Kenway family, and I’m also quite looking forward to punching a shark in the chops.
Assassin’s Creed was my introduction to proper video gaming, and I’ve followed the story right from Altaïr’s beginnings to Ratonhnhaké:ton effectively securing the fate of Western civilisation in AC3. I’ve seen the torturous repetition of the first game’s ‘eavesdrop, follow, assassinate’ structure turn into treetop lynching by the hands of a shaven headed Mohawk, which makes me think that things can only get better in future. There’s no need to worry about Desmond boring us in modern day sequences any more (here’s hoping our next modern day character might even succumb to a bit of fall damage every now and then, too); there’s the chance for Edward to bring some interesting character traits to the Kenway family, and I’m also quite looking forward to punching a shark in the chops.
Ubisoft have shown that they can give us a game a year without massive loss of quality, and apparently they’ve been working on AC4 for quite some time now, anyway. What’s even more exciting is the promise of compatibility with next-gen consoles - PS4 users will surely see the benefit of beautiful graphics and a more realistic physics engine. That’s not to say AC3 was an ugly game, hopping through trees in the middle of winter was as beautiful as it was useful, and slanted city rooftops were more of a help than a hinderance; giving players something a little more tricky to deal with is not a bad thing at all. It looks like AC4 will have a similar city scape to AC3, albeit with a bit more of a Caribbean feel to it. Expect sprawling markets, more interactive and useful citizens, and of course, Edward Kenway, our morally torn protagonist being awesome with all guns a-blazing, and more blades than you know what to do with. What’s not to look forward to?
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