Good morning to you all! Late last week Ubisoft confirmed that Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag was a real game and that we would have more information the following week. That announcement happened this morning and there were no additional details. Before we get to that, we have the announcement trailer:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_GDeIee6Kc]
A trailer with Blackbeard describing our latest assassin? This is surprising — assuming you didn’t watch the trailer when it leaked on Saturday that is. In AC4 we will be taking on the role of Edward Kenway, father to Haytham Kenway and grandfather to Connor of Assassin’s Creed III. Edward Kenway looks like a complete badass if I do say so myself. Holy crap, between the four guns and dual cutlass combination this man is a living instrument of death. Sure, I’m basing this off of a cinematic trailer with no gameplay, but still you can’t tell me it wasn’t awesome. Apparently we can also kill people and take their wenches, which in of itself is probably the most requested feature in Assassin’s Creed history; certainly is in my home at least.
We already knew that the latest entry would be pirate themed, simply due to the Black Flag subtitle, but seeing the naval combat heavy trailer solidifies the idea.
I know plenty of people are upset about another yearly Assassin’s Creed entry, but that’s the way of the gaming industry these days. I don’t personally support the concept, but I love the AC games and will undoubtedly be picking this one up. If Edward is written half as well as his son Haytham — who is one of my favorite characters in the series — and possibly played by the same voice actor, we will be in for a treat. It certainly cannot be as bad as Assassin’s Creed III, right?
What I really want to know now is who will be taking on the modern-day animus stint, playing as Edward Kenway? Desmond is obviously out of the picture, as well before AC III’s release Ubisoft announced the often maligned protagonist would be exiting the series.
Now the question is will we be playing as Desmond’s father William or will we be taking on someone unrelated to the Miles line?
I’m assuming, like most others, that we’ll be taking on someone else descended from the Kenway line. There is a potential of dozens, if not hundreds of viable people in the world that could have come from the loins of Edward Kenway’s descendants. Ultimately we’ll probably have to wait until E3 to truly find out who we’ll be taking on in the game and what the modern story might be.
If you’ve finished Assassin’s Creed III you probably understand why the modern storyline is potentially the most interesting aspect of the series now.
Naval combat is also making a major comeback to the series, but no surprise there. In the realm of minigame-like features, naval combat ranked very high for people. It was well executed and incredibly enjoyable. Plus, it’s unlikely that Ubisoft would put that much effort into a feature like that without plans of using it to death implementing it in future releases.
We still have plenty more information that we need before making any judgement calls on Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, but at this point I’m excited…mostly. It is highly probable that I’ll be picking it up and likely even pre-ordering the game.
Now if only they had released some additional information today. I realize they had intended to only release the trailer, because if more than the trailer was planned, then that would have been leaked too. Now I guess that we play the E3 waiting game…
What are your thoughts on today’s full announcement?
Does this increase your interest in the game? Diminish it?
What do you want to see in this release or future Assassin’s Creed games?
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag is scheduled for release on October 29th, 2013 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, Wii U, and all next-gen systems. Well fancy that; potentially a hint of when the PS4 and unannounced Xbox 720 will be getting released?
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