Difficult to recommend as having played the majority of up to then current AC games. Liked rags to riches story, felt forced many times but character felt real. As a whole felt it was most watered down and trite in the franchise to date. Severely disappointed in how short it was, felt like a true case of the devs pandering to the masses for a cash crop and a big ******* to loyal and hardcore fans. Of the ilk who was more impressed by three. Water combat was great.... at first. Traveling was enormously tedious and naval combat overall after long. However I felt it was a smoother transition of main characters than most other franchises. Montreal does really fine work despite the misgivings. Enjoyed it despite tediousness and shortness, would recommend at sale price.

Here's what you need to know: there are two games contained on this disc.

Assassin's Creed IV: A continuation of the popular AC franchise.

Black Flag: A great pirate simulator.

The fact that these two games share the same setting, characters, and plot is mostly incidental. They contrast each other sharply.

The Assassin's Creed portion of the game is not exactly bad. It's more entertaining than ACIII's American Revolution setting and the plot is moderately interesting. But it's still a stunningly mediocre entry into the franchise. It's yet another game about a handsome, brash young man who finds himself caught between ancient rivals and who must grow up, take responsibility, and become a hero. The same story we've already played several times over.

The positive side here is the player character, Edward Kenway. He's an extremely likable character and a lot of fun to play. He spends the majority of the game as an amoral poser, willing to go along with the assassins as long as it pays off for him down the line. His stupidity and greed have real consequences, so at least his growth as a character feels organic. The cast of supporting characters are also great and I liked pretty much all of them.

But dear god, the Assassin's Creed game mechanics have become so stale it's ridiculous. Yes, it's still fun to parkour around, especially in the colorful cities like Havana. Yes, it's still a hoot to cause mayhem on the rooftops. Wielding pirate pistols and double swords in a black Jolly Roger cloak makes you feel like an angel of death in the Caribbean. But the assassin missions seem to focus almost exclusively on tailing and eavesdropping, boxing you into narrow constraints with almost no room to improvise. They become increasingly frustrating as the game goes on. ACIV adds nothing significant to the already muddled Assassin's Creed mythology, leaving me underwhelmed all around.

By contrast, the Black Flag portion of the game is some of the most fun I've had with a video game...ever. As a lover of all things pirate, this is probably the best pirate simulator on the market. When you're not on Assassin missions, you are free to roam the Caribbean in your ship the Jackdaw. And the Caribbean is packed full of things to do:

Explore smuggler's caves
Defeat and take over naval forts
Explore uncharted islands
Hunt exotic creatures
Hunt dangerous sea creatures such as Great White Sharks
Accept naval missions as a privateer
Use treasure maps to find valuable collectibles
Challenge legendary vessels
And, of course, become a terror on the high seas by boarding enemy ships and taking their booty, from little boats to massive Men-O-War

The AC mechanics are implemented beautifully in the pirate parts of the game. Swinging between ships, running along the rigging, and battling furiously on the deck with your crew is all wild, frenetic fun. Hazards such as brutal storms add an element of excitement to chases, and the tropical ocean environment is beautifully rendered. It's a joy to play. I dreaded being forced ashore for assassin missions because I was having so much fun as a pirate, but it's unavoidable. You must complete the storyline in chunks to earn upgrades to your ship and take full advantage of the pirate elements.

Despite this being one of my favorite 360 games of all time, I'm forced to knock a star off because the Assassin's Creed elements are just so boring. I understand needing to slap a blockbuster label on this game to increase sales, but it really does feel tacked on. Had this been a straight pirate game, it would have been amazing.

If you are a fan of the AC franchise or you love pirates, this game is absolutely worth it.

Love the campaign. Not many options available for free-roam after all the side quests have been completed. Combat in ships was exceptional and well-balanced, and person-to-person combat was equally gratifying. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because it's a really good game, but just shy of awesome. Thanks to my son for dictating his gaming experience. He is 13 and played the heck out of this game.

As a parent, it has the typical amount of blood an violence, as I observed. There were a couple of ladies of the night, but they didn't say a lot and they weren't dressed too provocatively. I don't recall that language was a big deal either, considering he is a freshman in high school, it wasn't prolific and nothing he doesn't hear every day, I'm sure.

I wish there were more games he enjoyed this much, that I felt comfortable buying for him. I far prefer this type of game to first-person shooter, gory, and risque.

Loving this game so far.

I'm a pretty big ''n00b'' when it comes to console games, I prefer mmorpg's on pc, and I had a heck of a time getting into assassin's creed 3, but the reviews for this one convinced me I might like ac4;bf better so I gave it a try and I'm glad I did.

The first time I ever played Assassin's Creed was ac3 and I immediately liked how easy movement was as compared to other console games I had played. I just couldn't get into the single player version and got distracted playing other games.

Recently I gave ac3 a try again and wanted so much to enjoy it but just couldn't get into it. I went into multi-player and it was just too hard to get a good match due to not many players being online when I was playing, so I thought maybe a newer title would have more players, and the reviews for ac4bf sounded like exactly what I was looking for.

I haven't gotten very far into the single player game yet, taking my time and enjoying it. I love the inclusion of ships though.

I played multiplayer a bit and there were definitely more players on when I played than there had been for ac3, so that was nice, I actually was able to play enough to start noticing improvement.

I'm a big Assassin's Creed fan. Have been since the release of the first game of the series (despite it's repetitiveness). The Ezio trilogy, consisting of 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations are still among the best in my book, and even Assassin's Creed 3, though it's formula was somewhat altered, still held its own; serving as the exciting climax of Desmond Miles' storyline. To me, this series has always been about it's incredible story arc and how it fuses both gameplay and story as one to make for an immersive and worthwhile experience. This is where, unfortunately, Assassin's Creed 4 falls a bit short.

I, personally, was never a huge fan of the ship battles in Assassin's Creed 3, but since they were few and far between I didn't mind them so much. But to have fully integrated them in Black Flag? This alone made almost half of the missions seem more of a chore than actual fun. Mind you, I did most of the side missions as well, acquiring all but one of the elite ship plans and upgrading the entire ship as much as possible thus far. What pains me the most is the clunky control mechanics behind it all. It isn't as smooth and seamless as say the character scaling a building. Another irritating factor would be crashing. It was a constant struggle, especially when colliding with a small island when you weren't near one? Perhaps some unpolished coding there.

As for the missions, some were okay at best, and others a bit troublesome in terms of actually being able to enjoy what you were supposed to be doing. Tailing & Eavesdropping missions are the absolute worst of the bunch. You have to 'tail' a target for a number of minutes, at times unable to listen or read what they say in the subtitles due to needing to get away from restricted areas, or work your way around a guard, etc. Once the tailing is done, you then have to eavesdrop which consists of remaining within a short radius of the target without being detected all while avoiding guards. All of this takes away from actually being able to listen to the conversations that your target is having, which could be of importance in the storyline.

To me, this game left the impression that Ubisoft has strayed from what made this series as incredible as it has been. It feels as though they're trying to tailor it to a much wider audience and because of it they're sacrificing elements of the series that made it what it is today--as if its growing popularity has warranted a change to appeal to the masses instead of those whom have loved its formula from day 1.

In short, I'd recommend playing it through if you can find it for $20 or less, specifically for the side missions when outside of the animus in first person view. These missions actually offer more in depth information on previous Assassin's Creed games than when playing as Edward Kenway himself.

***SPOILER***

Lastly, what I'd say irritated me most of all was how the game ended. From what I gather, Abstergo was hell bent on finding out where the Observatory was. Once you find it as Edward, there was no mention of it anymore. Not as Edward, or in first person view when outside of the Animus. Not the vials of blood, nor the crystal skull. Or even what they'd planned on doing with it? If they'd go to its location? Nothing of the sort happened in the main story, and all you were left with was a wave of unanswered questions. I'm aware that Edward inquired about the vials of blood at the end, and where they'd gone since they were missing from the Observatory, and how he'd returned the crystal skull, but would Abstergo go and retrieve it? The storyline was seemingly cut off. If anyone could elaborate on my perhaps missing something in the game, I'd greatly appreciate it.