Assassin's Creed IV Gameplay Shown at E3

[Armada]

Yesterday, at Sony's E3 2013 press conference in Los Angeles, a live gameplay demo of Assassin'c Creed IV: Black Flag was shown, running on the PlayStation 4 system.

The five minute demo gives us a taste of stealth-based gameplay on land, followed by the player running straight onto a ship and heading into a large naval engagement, including a boarding sequence, without any loading screens.

I have to say, I do think the developers have achieved a great atmosphere in the game, and it seems to run very smoothly. Despite a few cases of stuttering during the live demo, it has to be said the game looks great on the PlayStation 4, which is promising for the next console generation. It will, of course, look just as good on high end PCs.

The naval combat, however, still has a distinctly arcade feel to it, and judging by the gameplay, the ships seem to move independently of the wind. On the other hand, this is probably a conscious decision to make the naval combat as fast-paced and fun as the land-based combat, so it's understandable to an extent.

What are your first impressions of the gameplay demo?

 

[Skyworm]

What are your first impressions of the gameplay demo?

What wonderful graphics and sounds, what a decent atmosphere ... and what a strange sailing model. Basically ... why place a game at 1717 in the age of sails, when obviously want to speed around whith motorboats?
Not that this is disturbing ... but why then repeatedly call it realistic ...

 

[Post Captain]

Not that this is disturbing ... but why then repeatedly call it realistic ...

Money.

 

[Luffy]

i was going to post this.... , but yeah, look's good other than the "relistic." and i think they dont mean it's relistic in the way of sailing, but the way it all work's together give's it a more relistic "feel" if you get what i mean?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

i think they dont mean it's relistic in the way of sailing, but the way it all work's together give's it a more relistic "feel" if you get what i mean?

Well, that much appears to be true. Why not then go all the way on it, though? They're SO close! Just put a menu option on it.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Just actually watched this. Looks very, very cool. I'm a bit dubious on which way those ships are firing their cannons when they attack that village though.
Super-powered bow chasers???

If they'd throw some actual realism in there, you'd be pretty darn close to what I'd like to see in Hearts of Oak.

 

[Armada]

Just actually watched this. Looks very, very cool. I'm a bit dubious on which way those ships are firing their cannons when they attack that village though.
Super-powered bow chasers???

That's one thing that really has me confused. What's with the many bow chasers and apparently flaming cannon balls? Did they decide normal cannon balls weren't good enough?

Gameplay-wise, I agree it does look fun, which I suppose is the most important thing.
It certainly wouldn't fit the Assassin's Creed pacing if all the ships did behave realistically.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It certainly wouldn't fit the Assassin's Creed pacing if all the ships did behave realistically.

True. Within the limits of their game setting, I reckon they're doing a pretty good job.
I just hope one day they'll see the light and un-AC what they've got.

 

[Tomahawk]

sick!

 

[Kamil]

The motorboat feeling aside, they repeated the bloody same mistakes as in AC3.

- Wrong ship models and details with
- Explosions after cannonball impact, even grenades, which were used, couldn't caused such heavy explosions (TOO MUCH HOLLYWOOD)
- Visible cannonballs
- No reloading of cannons!

- NO SCABBARDS, god I hate it, when edged weapons are used and there are no scabbards for them.
- Flying flintlocks (OK Teach has some "holsters" , but it seems he is the only one)

OK EXCLUSIVE NEW ERRORS:

- 2 shots from one single-barreled flintlock (yeah right!)
- No cocking and the flintlock wasn't cocked beforehand.
- Bad firing animation (frizzen and cock are static)
- What the hell is this flintlock supposed to be, looks like a very deformed French flintlock to me
- Cannons have no recoil after shooting!

OK I'll stop, the shocking fact is that this footage is supposed to be from the PS4 version of the game.

Thank you very much Ubisoft! I don't need a next generation console to see mistakes, which were made since decades!

For what it's worth, it's still worth 20$ you'll get definitely some fun but nothing more.

 

[Merciless Mark]

I will probally get this.... but...

Feels more like a darker and grittier Jack Sparrow adventure.

 

[Killerjoy96]

I will certainly get this. And however it seems to be some errors that only people see that have true knowledge of it. The AC franchise has been one of my favorite franchises yet. I also think it is a great way to look at cities and stuff for Hearts of Oak because that's a part you can't deny that it always looks beatiful and often gets the right feel in it.

I know it's not realistic in the way of ships however the cities and stuff are most of the time quite realistical.

About the holsters I find it strange. In AC3 you did have the holsters for your guns. However this is probably a game I'm really going to enjoy.

 

[Armada]

I just read an interesting article about hands-on impressions of AC4 at Gamescom: see here.
That site is calling AC4 it's 'game of show', so naturally I wondered why. I think they're mainly praising the open world aspects and naval combat, along with the ability to make your crew sing one of 36 shanties at the touch of a button.

It does sound quite fun, though some gameplay videos still demonstrate a lack of understanding of how sailing ships should react to something called "wind".
And then there's this quote from a separate interview with the lead writer:

Q: Do you see those big story-focused games as the main competition to Assassin’s Creed 4?
A: There’s no competition! [laughs] This is the best pirate game ever made! [...]

That's not his full answer, to be clear, but seriously...

 

[Killerjoy96]

Well their sailing model is not accurate but are there better Pirate games?

(Only ones that haven't been modded)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Depends what you mean by "better". CoAS is unmodded and might be able to give AC 4 a run for its money.
Not where graphics or freedom of movement are concerned, but how about the things that actually count?

 

[Killerjoy96]

Well it might be but in my eyes it's to old now, and second I believe for the feel of the caribbean I never saw a game put it down that nice. It feels great through the good graphics and stuff.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Of course, that it does. I'm just concerned about the sensibility and depth of the gameplay.
They COULD make the best pirate game ever on that engine, I'm sure. But since it is Assassin's Creed and needs to be crazy arcadey, it will never be.
The best I could hope for if they'll see the light and one day make ANOTHER pirate game. A REAL one with the same engine.
Now THAT would be PROPER epic!

 

[Killerjoy96]

I agree on that one. But the games are extremely fun. (I already pre-ordered Black Flag for PS4.) I have played every single one of them and a slow/realistic sailing model isn't part of how AC works.

 

[modernknight1]

And then there's this quote from a separate interview with the lead writer:

That's not his full answer, to be clear, but seriously...

Well I'm an addicted game hoarder and like to try new stuff. I was planning to buy this and give it at least one play-through. After that arrogant quote I'm not even gonna bother looking at it now.

I HATE that attitude that they can't look at any other offerings - but proclaim theirs to be the best. With that kind of arrogance its no wonder that they've not even considered any of the criticism from salts on this forum. Why should they want to hear anyone's opinions when they already know everything there is to know about pirate games and whats good and what isn't.

I would love it if this thing falls on its face....hard

The ADHD sea shanty, blow up everything really fast crowd may be their primary audience, BUT.....in my opinion they are generally cheap skates and have very low attention spans. They will be passing this thing around like smallpox without paying and it will be forgotten in six months time.

If they wanted an enduring fan base for this game they would do well to seek out loyalty from those that will give it..... Anotherwords fans that know something about the genre.

But they wont...

I would offer the following to that idiot writer...

MK

 

[Hylie Pistof]

There ya go again MK!

To that nitwit about AC4. "Tell Davey Jones I said Hello!"