Bethesda's epic sci-fi RPG is here, and it's a big one. From shipbuilding to exploring the surface of Mars, our thoughts so far.
Starfield Review... In Progress
The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 is finally here.
Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer
We take an in-depth look at Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and tell you why it should be heavily on your radar!
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - a Deep-Dive into its Potential
Range-wise, the ROG Rapture GT6 is phenomenal, and it's ideal for all gaming and non-gaming-related tasks.
ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 WiFi 6 Mesh System Review
Post by Eorl @ 03:28pm 13/12/13 | 21 Comments
Today Ubisoft announced that Freedom Cry, the post launch downloadable content for their pirate-themed title Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, will be available to eager ship sailors come next week. Those on the PlayStation brands will find the DLC available come December 18th while all other platforms will gain access to the DLC come December 17th.

The single-player DLC comprises nine missions, in which players take on the role of former slave Adewale. Now first mate to blond buccaneer Edward Kenway, Adewale finds himself washed up in Haiti, or as it was back then, the French-owned colony of Saint-Domingue, a land itself plagued by slavery. Although he begins unarmed and crewless, Adewale finds new weapons in a machete and blunderbuss gun, as well as a personal reason to fight.

"We're still true to how his character was established in Black Flag," said AC4 Lead Writer Jill Murray on Ubisoft's blog. "He's not standing in for every black man who was ever a slave in the 18th century. He's Adéwale. He's the character we know. He has the wit that we've come to expect; he has heart. We see him as an older guy. He's matured and changed in some small ways. I think those are the kinds of character details that always take precedence over pretty much everything else that can happen in the story."

Those interest in the new DLC will find it available at a standalone price of $9.99, though it is also included in the $19.99 Season Pass.




assassin's creed 4: black flagdlcfreedom cry
Buy now from Green Man Gaming Only GBP£19.99!
(compare all prices)





Latest Comments
Mordecai
Posted 08:21pm 13/12/13
I should probably finish the main game then huh. Spent WAY too long just sailing around and plundering everyone.
Ozzy
Posted 09:43pm 13/12/13
How repetitive is black flag? I haven't played since the original, which was way too repetitive. I love the concept, but I'm sitting on the fence with this one.
Khel
Posted 04:11pm 14/12/13
Nah, they've got far less repetitive than the first one. I'm absolutely loving black flag, best AC game since AC2 imo
Mosfx
Posted 07:46am 16/12/13
Never playing an AC game before, I finally bit the bullet and picked this one up to give it ago since so many people are talking about it.

I just hope it runs on my laptop =\
Bah
Posted 08:55am 16/12/13
How repetitive is black flag? I haven't played since the original, which was way too repetitive.
If you just play through the main missions, not very. If you do all the side quests and collectibles then extremely repetitive.
Eorl
Posted 09:10am 16/12/13
I'm loving it so far, picked it up on Xbox after everyone was ranting on about how good it is. The naval system is just pure awesome, riding against waves, singing shanties and just being a cool pirate. Loads of fun and highly recommend it.
Khel
Posted 11:43am 16/12/13
I wonder if XBox One people can play multiplayer with XBox 360 people, since they're both on the same Live service.
ravn0s
Posted 12:07pm 16/12/13
How repetitive is black flag? I haven't played since the original, which was way too repetitive. I love the concept, but I'm sitting on the fence with this one.


the sailing starts off great but gets boring and repetitive. i started quick traveling everywhere to get through it quicker. it's still a good game and probably the second best in the series.

has anyone boarded a man o war without fighting it first? i quick traveled to an island and a man o war was berthed there. i managed to swim to it (you get randomly shot at by invisible cannons that do no damage) and killed all the sailors on board. i got back on my ship and it just sat there while i destroyed it.


last edited by ravn0s at 12:07:34 16/Dec/13
Eorl
Posted 05:46pm 16/12/13
Hah that must be a bug, what level are Man 'o War ships? I found a random level 17 ship and it absolutely destroyed me while I was out exploring.

Also, while I can see the sailing becoming repetitive, its still the best damn sailing simulator I've ever played. Love going out to the high seas and having my pirate crew sing shanties while hunting for treasure. I really hope they continue with not focusing on the modern crap, and instead on the actual setting as it makes things way more interesting.
RuleofBooKz
Posted 05:55pm 16/12/13
If you do all the side quests and collectibles then extremely repetitive.


This - if you are one of those people that just have to clear the entire zone, and i mean get every chest and every fragment etc, before you move on you will be doing a lot of the same things over and over but as been said that is all optional stuff

the level 17 frigate is about the lowest form of military class vessel lol

Man-o-wars are about level 35 and up

the sword fighting on enemy ships can get screwed up by the position of the camera at times im finding - it would be also nice if we PC users could increase FOV
DeadlyDav0
Posted 06:21pm 16/12/13
it would be also nice if we PC users could increase FOV
link
Khel
Posted 07:03pm 16/12/13
Yeah, I don't even mind the repetitiveness of some stuff, like managing your fleet and sailing around looting and plundering and fighting, and EVERY time I get into a storm while sailing it still impresses me how awesome it looks and sounds. Have had some of the most epic battles every when you're in the middle of a storm with huge swells and you're firing down from the crest of a wave on a Man O War that is so far below you that you almost get vertigo. One time during a storm I wasn't paying attention to the waves and ended up side on to one of the huge waves and it washed 10 of my crew overboard :(

Collecting the animus fragments is probably the worst of the side missions though, because theres no real gameplay involved in them. I mean the shanties have the chase gameplay (plus you get more songs for your crew to sing), the chests at least give you a bit of coin, and the assassination missions and naval contracts give you something to do. But the animus fragments are purely just collecting for collecting's sake, so you only really need to worry about them if you're a completionist. The manuscripts and the letters in the bottles are pretty much the same deal, except you get a bit of lore to read when you collect those at least, and the messages in the bottles are least I've found tell a pretty interesting story. Still extremely, extremely optional though.

The harpooning stuff I always find fun too, which is maybe a little morbid of me, cos its pretty brutal. I don't understand why there hasn't been more outcry from groups like PETA over it, because its by far the most blatant "cruelty to animals" case in any game of recent time I can think of. But when you're hunting a great white shark, and it goes under then leaps out of the water right at you, it just looks so epic. I still haven't found any White Whales though, how the hell are you sposed to find those? Something about it being a social thing that gets shared by friends, but I've never had one show up.

Just got the diving bell last night and started doing the underwater treasure hunting bits, its not bad, but gets a little frustrating at times when hampered by the not-quite-up-to-the-task swimming controls.

Hah that must be a bug, what level are Man 'o War ships? I found a random level 17 ship and it absolutely destroyed me while I was out exploring.


Man-O-Wars start at about level 34ish I think, when you get into the medium difficulty areas. In the hard difficulty areas theres level 50 ones. I can take one of those down now, but it still chews me up pretty badly. You want to get your hull and your broadside cannons upgraded as fast as you can (and prolly the front firing cannons and the swivels as well, mortars don't matter so much unless you're attacking big forts or man-o-wars). You'll prolly need a lot of metal, and it can be a pain to find early on, but I found killing pirate hunters was a pretty good way to get them, so get your wanted level up to like level 1 and kill some pirate hunters when they come after you.

And when you're in close enough, ALWAYS broadside with the heavy canons, not the aimed ones, cos it does f***loads more damage. You fire the heavy shot by just firing without aiming when you're looking at the side, its the flaming cannonballs. And make sure if you see them firing you brace, cos it does reduce the damage pretty significantly. You wont survive against man-o-wars and stuff if you don't brace, they just rip you to shreds.
ravn0s
Posted 07:08pm 16/12/13
the game fails at telling you anything about using heavy shot and mortars. i had to google to see how to use them.
Khel
Posted 08:42pm 16/12/13
Yeah, I think I found mortars by accident when I pressed the wrong bumper for the spyglass, and I found heavy shot from reading tips on the internet
Bah
Posted 09:47pm 16/12/13
Pretty sure it told me how to use heavy shot, i only found out how to use mortars when it was an optional side part of a mission, so i checked the controls section as i didnt realise i had unlocked it or whatever.
Eorl
Posted 10:24pm 16/12/13
Yeah told me how to use heavy shots as soon as I bought them, as with mortars. Maybe you zoned out at the small help window? Also just versed my first Man O' War, holy jesus.
Khel
Posted 02:12am 17/12/13
Hurry up and start playing the fleet game, speed up my ships damnit! The reales must flow
BladeRunner
Posted 02:59am 17/12/13
I started playing a few days ago, Its alright. I am not too keen on the AC ground combat style but I do like walking up behind some poor sod and shanking him. The ship part which I now am up to is cool. My only gripe with thats its not realistic, I know its not supposed to be super sim realistic but c'mon, the ship goes like a power boat at full speed. Reloading is crazy fast. If Ubi does make a stand alone pirate game, I hope they take note of Pirates of the carribean game and mods for it. That was a damned awesome game. If they just remade that in a new engine I would be happy as a sailor drowning in rum.
Mosfx
Posted 08:50am 17/12/13
Well AC4 runs like s*** on my 3 year laptop as expected lol so I downloaded AC2 since everyone says that's the best one to play and it runs super smooth.
Khel
Posted 12:09pm 17/12/13
I don't want a slow ship that wallows about and needs a huge circle to turn and takes ages to reload after firing a broadside, that'd just suck the fun out for me. I like that its more 'hollywood movie' physics and is about feeling epic rather than feeling realistic. Gameplay first imo.

One thing I do wish is that you could upgrade your ship into a bigger ship, like upgrade all the way up to a huge Man-O-War. Cos its a little silly, I have the second top tier of cannons which I think is like 20 cannons on each side, but physically my boat is tiny and still only has 4 actual cannons on the deck. Just seems silly that I'm packing all this firepower and can take so much punishment, but I'm still just a tiny little ship. I want to be big and imposing and badass!
ravn0s
Posted 12:54pm 17/12/13
it would have been cool if you could get rear cannons like on the Spoiler:
queen anne's revenge.


last edited by ravn0s at 12:54:02 17/Dec/13
Commenting has been locked for this item.
21 Comments
Show