Battlefield 4 Reviews

Videogamer review AC4

There's only so many times, however, that you can tolerate the poorly-defined stealth and terrible AI. Eavesdropping returns, and is as poor as before, and most missions devolve into 'follow the man, kill the man' repetition. Your adversaries are also too dumb to notice you most of time (you can still pull four guards into the same haystack), mitigating the thrill.

Gameinformer said:

Black Flag is a major disappointment when it comes to variety; the main missions all feel the same, with a tiring abundance of lame “tail the guard” and “eavesdrop on the conversation” objectives. I enjoyed the more exciting scenarios and assassinations when they surfaced, but they are vastly outnumbered by these filler tasks that highlight the imprecise stealth mechanics.

The story isn’t much better than the missions. Edward’s obsession with money and lack of personal conviction are all a part of his character arc, but those traits make the plot haphazardly bounce around for the majority of the game.

Black Flag is ultimately better than Assassin’s Creed III (which I did not formally review). Some elements seem crafted directly in response to criticisms about the previous game. You get to the piracy rather quickly, without the need for several hours of tutorial missions. Weapon switching happens immediately thanks to the d-pad assignment, and fast-travel locations are convenient and plentiful. However, some of the same complaints resurface with a vengeance: frustrating stealth, numerous glitches, and poor performance (the framerate is all over the place on the current-gen incarnations). These flaws, combined with the disjointed story and repetitive main missions, make Black Flag a game that fails to live up to its full potential. Though Edward’s voyage isn’t all smooth sailing, the choppy waters don’t sink the ship.

Videogamer have a whole article on what needs to change in Assasins Creed.

Videogamer said:

Assassin's Creed 4's mechanics are as out of time as its settings, and the graphical upgrade of the next-generation versions isn't enough to distract from that. Here's what needs to change. Like the fate that befell perennial series cipher/bellend Desmond, Assassin's Creed's ageing mechanics have to die. For years the franchise's poor AI, awful checkpointing, imprecise controls and unstealthy stealth have undermined a game rich in terms of both budget and ambition, but poor in terms of execution and understanding how to parlay its excellent hook into something truly great.

Black Flag's problem is the core of the game is still the same as those that came before.

Fixing those problems seems easy. First on the chopping block must be the eavesdropping missions, where you have to stalk someone, remaining within a certain proximity to listen to them. They are unbelievably dull, made worse by spotty detection mechanics - sometimes you can be seen by a guard about three feet away and just hide in a bush; on other occasions you'll be spotted from miles away with very little warning.

Checkpointing is also an issue, repopulating the world with enemies you've already dealt with before the game saved.The game also hates out-of-order execution: using your brain and outwitting the game's linear mission processing generally ends in it doggedly refusing to continue until you do it a certain way.

Controls are still problematic, as well: run and jump are essentially on the same button, thwarting many a daring escape as you fruitlessly run up a building, rather than off to safety. Land combat has improved from 3, but despite all your options it's still a case of hitting 'counter' then 'kill'.

But there's a deeper issue than just the base mechanics to consider, as poor as they can be. Stupid enemy intelligence is a small issue compared to the fact that the mission structure, and the narrative (and Ubisoft's slavish devotion to both), are nothing more than a 12-hour long series of tutorials and fetch quests.

'Ass Creed' needs to either gut its core and rebuild its whole approach to stealth and AI, or try something radical. Otherwise any sequel may well be the shiniest, dullest game going.

This guy just became my hero.

gamingeek said:

Existing U owners who want games to play, or best of editions  with access to the full feature set of games like Deus Ex HR and NFS Most Wanted.

Also a lot of these games are not old, Arkham, Blacklist, Rayman, AC4, Watchdogs, Ghosts etc.

Watch Dogs, Ghosts and AC4 are hardly going to be the best on the Wii U (in terms of graphics and polish, which is what the thing you quoted was lauding). The rest are current/last gen AKA old.

Penello/"Xbox dev" talk rumor-mongers: "Like the Xbox One has become Britney Spears"

gamingeek said:

Better than current gen yes, as Ubisoft and Activision have already said so, unless you have some new information to share.

So I assume you're calling games current gen because there is no next gen version? So what does that make PS4 and Xbone versions of current gen games? Old too?

EDIT: Links added

Better than last gen (as it can only be referred to after the PS4 and Xbox One are out). Yay? I'm not sure what you're trying to prove here. The Wii U should have better versions of games than the PS360, and I expect that to be the standard even if early ports weren't so great. It's good that they're better versions...but at this stage, it's a bit meh when they're current gen games. It's like getting excited over the Far Cry remake when the 360 first came out. Let's see how some next (current) gen only ports go along the way, and then go crazy if they're good (which they should be). But like I said, I'm glad the ports are of a high quality. My issue was with the quote, not anything you've said.

And obviously. The line up of the PS4 and Xbox One are also terrible. What's your point? The point in the quote that I was replying to was that people aren't paying attention to Wii U ports because the Wii U has a low install base. No, people aren't paying attention to Wii U ports because who cares about ports like that? People desperate for games at best, such as the low install base of Nintendo. In fact, if the Wii U had more decent games, then that post would probably never have been made in the first place. There's also an automatic media bias towards multiplats on non-Nintendo consoles, but that also has little to do with install base as was seen with the Wii. And the GameCube.

Awesome AC4 reviews. The GS review has me all giddy, it talks about how amazing exploring the open seas is.

Wow. It's nearly the holiday season. There's new systems right around the corner... and the news is deader and duller than a typical week in July. All I see is sequel, sequel, sequel of all the usual suspects and really nothing else of note. This generation is dead, but, problem is, next gen isn't looking too promising either.

Dragon Quest rumors are heating up again thanks to Reggie's fucking Twitter account. I can't deal with him playing with my emotions like that. Just announce something already!  There are 3 DQ games in Japan right now that have recently been released and no word on any of them heading to the West. When lord? When's going to be my time?!?!??!

robio said:

Dragon Quest rumors are heating up again thanks to Reggie's fucking Twitter account. I can't deal with him playing with my emotions like that. Just announce something already!  There are 3 DQ games in Japan right now that have recently been released and no word on any of them heading to the West. When lord? When's going to be my time?!?!??!

Arent we getting X?