Assassin’s Creed the last few years he is pretty storm. Developers, as if covered by sea disease, throws from one side to another, from the manners on Tower Defense to the Motherland of Yankees and the wars for independence. It is worth paying tribute Ubisoft -Unlike the developers of another annual series, the creators of the Assassins saga constantly, even if it was far from success, still tried to find new gameplay moves, open other setting horizons in order to at least somehow refresh the mechanics that had been pushing the sore. Most of the innovations were not appreciated by fans, and it became clear that it was necessary to decide on serious conceptual changes. And finally the developers decided on them.
And we will go west!
Timid steps in this direction have already been made in Assassin’s Creed 3. However, at that time Ubisoft I still did not know where to move in order to revive the public interest in the franchise. And, although AC3 did not find special love from the public, creative teams Ubisoft The project provided invaluable assistance, pointing out two main vectors of the successful development of the series.
Firstly, fans with a bang accepted sea battles. Moreover, many critics stated that it was the best innovation. Secondly, the third part became a sign for the main trend that characterizes the evolution of the series, namely, the departure from the topic of the confrontation of the assassins and the Templars. The authentic spirit remained buried in the Holy Land with Altair. Corresponded to him, but to a much lesser extent, Ezio. Connor generally fought for democratic freedoms, for the rights of blacks and for his Indian family, and not for the ideals of the brotherhood.
In general, the loss of characteristic features did not bother anyone-the main claims were addressed to the tangled gaming process, plot non-juracists and meaningless innovations. And then in Ubisoft Understood: “Well, it turns out, you can make games of the series Assassin’s Creed not about assassins, but who you like!”Where in this case you need to move on? Together with the first lesson from Konnor’s adventures, the response of the direction was obvious: the course should be taken to the Caribbean Sea of the 18th century – a cocktail of salt water, rum, flibustier sweat and blood.
Abstergo Entertainment
It was immediately necessary to decide what to do with such an important feature of the series as travel travel with the help of “Animus”. After all, Desmond Miles is already dead, and the main storyline seems to be finished. The authors decided not to refuse animus, but to change its value for revealing the plot. Black Flag could do without episodes in modernity, their meaning is so small.
We act as a new employee of the Abstergo Corporation, studying genetic memory and mastering the technology of experiencing the experience of someone’s ancestors. We get a project, the task of which is to draw up the biography of Edward Kenoi – a brave pirate, and part -time of one of the grandfathers of the Radunhanhage familiar to us.
The historical part of the gameplay will occasionally be interrupted, allowing us to take a walk around the office of the corporation, solve simple puzzles and get acquainted with gigabytes of very entertaining information. U Ubisoft Everything is in order with a sense of humor and self -irony: in the computers of colleagues you can find funny notes about which eras are suitable for the engine As, why the twentieth century does not fall on the mechanics of the game, can a zombie appear in the series. A couple of mention will be found Watch_Dogs. It turns out that the CTOS network is one of the products of the Abstergo!
Assassins of the Caribbean
With each new part Ubisoft went away from the conflict of the Assassin-Tamplers further. Black Flag She continued this trend, literally “spitting” in the face of the inflated pathos of the Assassin Code of the First Part. The hero, in whose sleeves this time will be hidden by retractable blades, is a immoral type, engaged in the trolling of all the order of the order we know. He has no ideological beliefs and faith in pious ideals, only the splendor of gold and the ringing of coins motivate Edward Kenway to take risk.
But the authors had to somehow justify the existence of the traditional costume of the protagonist. And they did it very graceful. Pirate by nature, Edward is involved in a large adventure, once killing an assassin and re -contrary to his robe. Everything would be nothing, yes Kenoay, sensing considerable profit, gets used to the role and goes to the headquarters of the Templars, where a victim was heading with a treacherous mission. Thus begins the story of his hard relations with two orders in which Edward fundamentally adheres to the position of an uninterested observer, but naturally sympathizes with the Assassins.
To chase artifacts and exterminate the Templars, we will be exclusively for commercial purposes. The primary tasks in the pirate community are recognized by fights in taverns, robbery of ships and the protection of the native town of Nassau, oppressed by the English and Spanish metropolis. Merry Roger, Bordeli, Rum, charismatic characters like a black beard – the theme of piracy is fully disclosed here.
We will spend at least half the time in the open sea. Ubisoft I realized that “more” does not mean “better” – the concept of huge cities remained in the past. This time at our disposal a whole archipelago with a huge number of small islands, villages and other entertaining places. We can plow water spaces completely freely, without any reconnaissance – the game world is really successful for glory. The Gamer community has already managed to stick out according to the pirate romance of the penultimate “Corsarers” – Black Flag I managed to return it.
Living wave
A significant role in creating the atmosphere is played by a rich color of the environment. Yes, graphics c Black Flag just amazing, episodes of Edward synchronization are fascinated, and local water can be admired for hours. However, in addition to technological bells and whistles, artists Ubisoft Very successfully picked up the color scheme: the endless brightness of the encirclement greatly resembles Far Cry 3.
Water landscapes look so realistic that you really get scared when the holiday of sunlight is replaced by a gloomy hurricane and storms that caught you in the open sea. Weather conditions change dynamically, which leaves its mark directly on some sides of the gameplay. So, in stormy weather, due to the exciting sea, it is more difficult to aim on enemy ships, in addition, you need to try to meet the killers of the front of the vessel in order to minimize the damage. And if you are “lucky” to get into the funnel of a wandering tornado – desinghronization cannot be avoided.
Perfectly recreated pirate setting, naturally, caused comparison with another bright representative of the genre – “Corses”. Nevertheless, they are similar only with a common topic. MicroMENCIPLE V AS4 developed very weakly – you will not have to take care of food here. There is no serious trade as such either, all that will allow us to sell looted rum and sugar in the shop. Of course, we are not dealing with a simulator, so such shortcomings do not have a significant meaning. However, another scream of casuality is given by another, really important chip for the concept – battles in the sea.
Sea battle
Of course, sea battles look just amazing. Colorful effects, magnificent dynamics, destruction of ships, various types of nuclei with their own characteristics – all this makes water battles Black Flag One of the best in the history of video games. When it comes to boarding, you come to silent delight. At that moment, when your team throws on someone else’s side of the Bagra, and you get to the masts to the enemy to make a fatal jump on top of the captain of the ship, you begin to believe that you have the best piracy simulator.
However, when you come to your senses, you understand that Ubisoft In the name of beauty and effectiveness, it was necessary to sacrifice a significant degree of realism. Yes, here we can create our own fleet, but there is no need for it – the “duck” alone can sink a whole armada. The fact is that during the boarding the other ships participating in the battle stop shelling us and indifferently stealing circles around. Having captured the ship, we can use its resources to repair our own ship. This happens instantly, so that, focusing on one enemy vessel, we can destroy an infinite number of enemies, performing the boarding and “healing from wounds” in time.
Having mastered this technique correctly, you can go through a significant part of the plot without pumping “Galka”. In addition, there is one funny bug in the game, which allows even the largest ships from the very beginning to capture. However, if you close your eyes to these non -Urazians, to engage in modernization is very exciting. You will never have a lot of money – all cash goes to the upgrade of the character and ship. In addition to them, we will need other resources: the skins and meat of animals will go to improve Kenoi’s inventory, and wood and metal – to the “duck” upgrade.
Raise Marseille, Brahmsel!
The desire to evolve, grow in a large pirate with four pistols on the chest and a huge ship with a hundred guns on board, motivates to complete additional tasks, to rob peace vessels, to search for underwater treasures … There are a lot of activities here, but, unlike the previous parts,where running around in entertaining places of the card was perceived more like an extra load and duty, and not entertainment, it is extremely pleasant to spend time for an optional hack.
The global card contains a huge amount of “interestingness”. On the scale of the islands, as before, the activated points of synchronization, now serving at the same time and posts for quick movement, will show which amusement measures can be found nearby. On land, we can go to the brothel to wave with fists and find out the location of the secret treasure, pick up sheets with pirate songs, hunt boars or crocodiles. You can take up traditional killer contracts or go through a parallel campaign to eliminate the Templars – we will get access to a very valuable treasure to complete this type of task. There is something to do here, and, most importantly, side activity never turns into routine.
At the level of the whole archipelago, the forts perform the function of “synchronization”-their capture will show where the sharks swim, where the ship with treasures sank, and where some legendary ship lurks in proud loneliness, the capture of which promises tremendous profit. In the first few hours of passage, you simply spit on the storyline and will be free, to plow the sea expanses on all sails, look at random ships through the telescope and capture the richest.
When you master the skills of sea hunting and buy a bell for diving, each exit to swiming will be perceived as a unique and exciting trip – you will forget about the possibility of quick movement. All types of marine activities are felt as separate games, but in the whole they create a stunningly integral and rich picture of a pirate life.
You are at sea, I’m on land
As for the gameplay on land, then everything is in the old Assassin style. Parquecum mechanics got to us in an untouched pristine form – however, there were almost no high points for conquest. Edward has sliding blades, main weapons, pistols and familiar to many VITA owners on Liberation, wind tubes with poisonous darts. The battles performed by Kenoay are not as spectacular as performed by Radunhanhage. The battle technique itself has not changed on an iot – this is still a casual and monotonous process of alternating locks and blows, as a result of which the main character easily puts entire arming of rivals on the shoulder blades.
Types of enemies are the same: ordinary ordinary soldiers, quick dodging and armored “tanks”. The latter are able to throw bombs during the battle, but this does not change the essence of the matter. Some enemies will use firearms. The same element not only does not complicate the battle, but also simplifies it – during reloading we can “hug” any enemy and use it as a living shield, which will lead to its quick and imminent death.
In general, the land of the gameplay remained familiar. However, the situation is saved by an excellent atmosphere and the increased value of stealth elements. To capture warehouses, it is much easier to track down the owner of the key and quietly eliminate it, getting through it through the overgrown of corn, than to destroy all the inhabitants of
the plantation. True, sometimes stealth surprises with his incompleteness. You can run in front of the enemy’s nose, and then flop into the bushes, and he ignores your presence. Many tasks forced order will forbid us to show us to the eye of the guard. Missions for tracking somewhere and dangling about something opponents have become noticeably more, and this is a little bordering.
Whistle everyone up!
Ubisoft did not heed the aspirations of fans and did not include sea battles in the multiplayer. The traditional mechanics of the multiplayer regime remained the same, but the authors worked well on the mistakes and made some adjustments. All old regimes, including the “wolf flock”, successfully migrated to Black Flag, adapting to the conditions of the new pirate setting. There were wide opportunities for customization of his character – the appearance of the hero can be completely changed. They will allow me to indulge in the choice of special skills and perks – it is they who will determine your own play style.
The main innovation can be called the appearance of a “workshop” – a kind of regime editor. Here, each user can set his own fighting rules and the conditions for calculating glasses. For example, you can prohibit the use of small arms. In total, there are several hundred parameters, the change of which will create its own unique type of game. Achievements can be represented not only by friends, but also to the entire gaming community. Who knows, maybe you will go down in history if your creation is noticed Ubisoft, and will appear in the next parts on the rights of the official regime.
Ubisoft The impossible succeeded. The developers pulled out of ash and decay, it would seem, already outliving their mechanics and gave her a second life. Such a fracture Assassin’s Creed Waited from the second part. The Assassins tried on pirate costumes (or pirates – Assassin), went to the open sea, refused ideas about conscience and honor – a change of image of the main characters and a kind of rebranding of the series should teach a very important lesson to other developers: there is always a way to refresh even the oldest concept.
Pros: boarding, sea, rum – perfectly transmitted spirit of piracy.
Cons: casuality of some aspects of gameplay;Outdated combat system on land.