Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag is a game where pirating and assassin...ing?? blend perfectly. So it all starts with the lowly Edward Kenway possibly struggling as an alcoholic of sorts, tho there is no clear indicator. Edward wants to sail the high seas and become something while his spouse wants him to stay home and remain working. Edward shows true signs of his love to her. Touching. Edward no longer feels a poor life is for him. And he is off like that. A shipwreck and island crawl later Edward has killed a real assassin and taken his gear along with his belongings. A small glass cube and a letter sending him to Havanna. The story line was great so far, everything made sense and was laid out easily. Almost anyone with an interest in the game could pick it up and play. As for myself, I have always been interested in stealth games. The game just worked. Throughout Havanna are assassination contracts, shanties, animus fragments, and leaps of faith. All of the large scale cities have this as well but Havanna is massive. Good, great, grand, wonderful. Now back to my experience. Again the story was great so far. So far. I met some guy, went to this place and that and sooner than later Edward, a pirate and practically assassin, is standing right next to three other NPC "enemies" discussing the Observatory. After completing that shit I happily started betraying, killing, sneaking, jumping, falling, and finally got my own damn ship. Edward clearly has no concern for a while about home or his wife and he just does what ever he damn-well pleases. The foot missions become a bit repetitive at this point. Still the game had me drawn in entirely. I feel that the division of ship battles/sailing and foot missions are what makes you want to keep playing. It worked on me. Overall the game is beautiful in every corner you may peek. Your character movements look great. Battles are more intense than I had expected. The game has the ability to hit you in feels every now and then. 4 out of 5 stars for sure.
GRIPE: Office missions are a sonofabitch.
Thanks for reading.
-Guacadile