Assassin’s Creed® IV Black Flag™

I never got into the Assassin's Creed franchise. The games just weren't for me, and hearing the reception of modern AC titles didn't help spark any interest either. Still, i did hear a lot of positive things about Black Flag, and i am a big fan of pirate settings, so i decided to give it a go and found myself having a good time. Well, mostly. My biggest gripe with this game are the animus sections that take place in the present. They tear you out of your fun pirate adventures and force you to go through these walking simulator segments that take place in some modern day company building, which mostly consist of listening to characters yap around. I know they are a part of the overarching AC story, but i just couldn't force myself to care. I came into this game for the pirate stuff, not the modern day corpo shenanigans. Aside from that, this game also has way too many tailing segments, where you have to sneakily follow one or multiple targets across entire towns at times. These segments were never fun, so having to do them over and over again was highly unpleasant. Now, while these two things may be the only two major issues i have with the game, they are still two very major issues that unfortunately drag the overall experience down quite a bit for me, Still, AC Black Flag is one of the best pirate games currently available (which is unfortunate), and if you can overlook these two negatives, then you will surely find yourself having a good time here, especially if you are into pirate stuff. The combat is simple, but fun and fluent, exploring different islands and looking for hidden treasure using treasure maps gives you that Sea of Thieves-esque feeling of exploration and discovery, the characters (at least the ones outside the animus sections) are interesting and intriguing, with a good story to elevate them. However, the Jackdaw is definitely this game's strongest point. Everything involving the ship is fun, be it just sailing around the ocean, sinking and capturing enemy ships, or fighting entire forts. Too bad that Ubisoft apparently forgot how to make a good game that is based on these mechanics. Overall, AC Black Flag is a fun experience with a some major issues that drag the game down quite a bit, but it still manages to stand quite well on its own, even from the perspective of someone who does not like the Assassin's Creed franchise. 7.5/10.