An ambitious start for Assassin's Creed on next-gen. The vibrant Caribbean world and bloody piracy shine brightest, while the only sour notes come from contrived series story beats and repetitive missions--both need rethinking for AC5.

Beautiful; vast open world; Edward Kenway is an excellent rogue; Top-notch side-missions

Main missions suffer from repetition; Assassin's Creed lore has devolved to nonsense; Very few actual assassinations

This game is so cool , the graphics are breath-taking and a gripping story . Totally recommend !!!!

A solid but ultimately uninspired instalment in the series, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is comprised of ideas that are starting to wear thin. Anything but a major overhaul will do for the next game, especially given the fact that next-gen is almost upon us, and another title in the same mould...

Assassin's Creed swaps tall towers for poopdecks, but is this the pirate game we always wanted? Find out in our Assassin's Creed 4 review.

The amazing world of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag has kept me gladly occupied for longer than any other game in the series, even though its story isn't the strongest. At no point in my dozens of hours was I ever at a loss for something to do.

Epic scope; Great side quests; Lighter tone; Beautiful moments

Disappointing main story

Edward Kenway isn't particularly noble, at least as far as Assassins go. He doesn't have Ezio's thirst for justice, Connor's earnestness, or Altair's selfless devotion to a cause. In fact, for much of Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag , he isn't really an Assassin at all; he's just a pirate who puts on...

+ Engrossing storyline that capably straddles historical pirate fiction and sci-fi strangeness; + Rich open world with tons of fun side activities

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Assassin's Creed is a rather polarizing series. With elements of historical context and modern day sci-fi wizardry, the juxtaposition can be a bit much for some. When you combine that with elements of freerunning and perhaps a bit too much intrigue for one person to handle, and you have one rather...

Assassin's Creed III was such a massive game, so full of things to do, that despite the obvious quality of many of the constituent parts, you could argue that it lacked direction. Not so with Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag .

Edward Kenway's a great improvement on Connor; The Jackdaw is fantastic and it's great fun exploring the world; There are dozens of side missions and they're mostly fab

Stealth mechanics and free-running need an overhaul; Combat is still rather simplistic; Animations could do with a spring-clean

A vast world, dozens of diversions, and characters that you can genuinely warm to. The sea-faring is spectacular, even on Xbox 360, and those familiar problems are much more forgiveable, when you're really enjoying the ride.

I rarely review things, but after reading the negative reviews, I felt obliged in this case. People are complaining its similar to Assassins Creed 3. Tell me, what did you expect? Now let me be clear, this is no GTA 5. But that's because its not meant to be!