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EGM Review: Fighter Within

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November 27, 2013

Sweep the leg? I can’t, Sensei. I’m using Kinect.

When I look at the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 hardware, there’s not the largely noticeable jump that defined previous generational transitions. One piece of tech that was supposed to help embody the little bit of change we did receive, however, was the new Kinect sensor. Whereas the original Kinect needed all your playing conditions to be just right in order to work (and even then, it failed at times), the next-gen model was supposed to alleviate many of these problems.

Space and lighting issues would be a thing of the past, and the sensor would pick up the slightest movements—right down to your tiniest finger twitch. While the voice-command recognition can be tested via the Xbox One’s menus, we wouldn’t be able to see the most needed improvements until we actually got a game specifically designed for the peripheral. Unfortunately, if Fighter Within was supposed to show off how far Microsoft’s Kinect technology has come, then new-gen motion controls might be in trouble.

Issues to which first-generation Kinect users have become accustomed—such as inaccurate motion tracking and input lag—are prevalent in Fighter Within. You can’t even navigate the game’s menus effectively, because the recognition is so piss poor. I’d often have to use my controller to move through the wretchedly clunky user interface, since my body movements and voice commands were completely ignored outside of fights.

Once you manage to get past the menus, you’ll find the game has two modes. The first of these is your standard arcade-type option. You pick one of the game’s 12 fighters and move up a ladder comprised of eight of the other fighters (there are no mirror matches).

The other is a story mode called Initiation that follows a street urchin named Matt through 21 fights that are supposed to tie his tale together. I wish I could tell you something more about Matt and his journey, but there aren’t any cutscenes until the very end, and the between-bout dialogue is so devoid of personality that I quickly stopped caring. Oh, Matt’s father was a drunk boxer! And his opponent’s mother a disgraced Olympian! I wasn’t sure if I should use the Kinect to help determine a winner in brutal one-on-one combat or ask my Xbox One to find them a good therapist.

Then, finally, you get into actual combat, and it’s here that any fleeting hopes for Fighter Within at least being a fun tech demo are thrown out the window. The game does offer an interesting variety of moves for a motion-control game: standard punches and kicks, picking up sticks to whack your opponent in the face, jumping off scenery in the level, and even special powers—and you’ll need to go through Initiation mode just to be slowly introduced to everything your fighter can do. Of course, even with the added tutorials, it can be a bit much to take it all in, and you’ll find yourself falling in love with just a handful of moves that are more than enough to work your way through the ranks.

Still, this is all contingent on the Kinect sensor actually picking up your movements. Straight punches and kicks aren’t a problem, but the more complex the maneuver, the less likely the game will accurately translate it onscreen. Often, my grab and throw attempts turned into straight punches, kicks turned into wasted special moves, and raising my arms above my head for one special turned into nothing but a high block. And if you move too quickly, the delay between your actions and what happens onscreen becomes more prevalent. There’s nothing more frustrating in Fighter Within than watching your character throw extra punches into a blocking opponent after you’ve stopped—and then being helpless as the computer takes advantage.

It might not be entirely fair to condemn the new Kinect, because after playing this game for several hours, I think Fighter Within just may be one of the most poorly designed motion-control games we’ve seen yet. Simply put, it’s a complete mess. It almost feels like this was a game meant for the motion-tracking technology of the original Kinect, but because nothing was in the pipeline for the Xbox One’s launch window to show off what its new sensor can do beyond dancing and workout games, the project was shuffled from one platform to the other. That’s still no excuse, however, for this being one of the worst launch games I’ve ever had to play, and it should be avoided at all costs.

Developer: Daoka • Publisher: Ubisoft • ESRB: T – Teen • Release Date: 11.22.13
2.5
Fighter Within was buried under the rest of the Xbox One launch lineup for a reason. This one-on-one fighter is a throwback to the problems of the first Kinect—and does nothing but sow seeds of doubt that the next-gen Kinect sensor is any different from its predecessor.
The Good Interesting array of moves, including arena interaction. 
The Bad Input lag can be pretty terrible; lack of overall movement recognition, navigating the menus.
The Ugly How winded I was after some of the fights.
Fighter Within is a Xbox One exclusive. 
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EGM Review: Rayman Fiesta Run

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Everyone loves a fiesta!

I admit that I’m a bit new to the Rayman series, only having played the most recent ones. But once the limbless wonder works his magic on you, it’s hard not to develop an affinity for Michel Ancel’s iconic character. So, when the opportunity arose to take Rayman from the controller to a touchscreen, I was curious.

Rayman Fiesta Run is the follow up to last year’s Rayman Jungle Run and continues in that game’s footsteps, replacing the precision platforming we’ve come to know on consoles with an endless-run dynamic. At first, this worried me greatly, given how tightly Rayman controls on consoles—it’s one of the major reasons I’ve gotten so addicted to his games. After several hours tapping furiously at my iPad, however, I can tell you that the endless-run motif isn’t necessarily better or worse; it’s simply a different way to enjoy Rayman and his world.

In order to get used to this new mechanic, the game strips Rayman of many of his basic moves at the start—all you can do is tap to jump, wall jump, and run. This helps you get into the rhythm you need if you’re going to collect all 100 lums and four Teensies per level. Multiple paths and familiar obstacles to overcome lend even more replayability since the only way to truly beat the game is to collect everything in each level and its twisted “Invaded” counterpart.

Knowing when to tap—and when not to—might sound simple enough, but it’s harder to master than it seems, so it’s great that the game takes it easy early on. But when Rayman starts getting abilities back—like gliding and punching—the difficulty ramps up fast. You must master performing each move in conjunction with multiple taps to ensure that Rayman sails through the world smoothly and collects everything along the way.

Fiesta Run also does a great job of utilizing the phenomenal art and music for which the series is known. Even though the areas are all new, they’ll be familiar enough that fans will appreciate listening to their favorite level music set against recognizable backdrops.

I’m afraid that Fiesta Run isn’t all one big party, though. The game is surprisingly short, even with multiple playthroughs of each level. Seventy-two levels sounds like a lot—and if this were a console Rayman game, it would be—but here you can get through the entire game in only a few hours.

The boss levels also disappoint. Bosses you have to run from are huge and beautifully designed, but they’re never really a threat, since you just keep running. The level layout isn’t really anything different compared to what you’ve played up to that point, either, so the entire concept of a “boss” area is really lost after the level’s brief opening cinematic.

I’m also a bit surprised that the game doesn’t tie back into the console versions. It’s not really a negative, but with so many companies releasing apps with or around a recent release that can unlock costumes or extra items or a minigame when you link them, I’m just surprised I can’t transfer lums from Fiesta Run to Rayman Legends or earn extra trophies or something along those lines. I could use those additional trophies and lums, too, because it’s not easy trying to get to the 11th level of awesomeness or unlock every character in Legends!

Sometimes, though, simple is the way to go—and Rayman Fiesta Run proves that. Its user-friendly control scheme should provide nothing but fun for fans of the franchise, and even if you’re not a huge Rayman devotee, the game’s cheap price tag of $2.99 makes it a worthwhile download if you’re a completionist with a few hours to kill.

Developer: Ubisoft Casablanca • Publisher: Ubisoft • ESRB: N/A • Release Date: 11.7.13
8.0
Simple and to the point, Rayman Fiesta Run follows proudly in its predecessors’ footsteps. The endless-run dynamic is a nice change of pace for fans of the franchise—I just wish the party could’ve lasted longer.
The Good Enough challenge and collectibles to compare favorably to its console brethren.
The Bad Short enough to be blown through in only a few hours.
The Ugly Just missing that last lum before crossing the finish line.
Rayman Fiesta Run is available on Google Play, Amazon App Store, and iOS devices. Primary version reviewed was for iOS devices, specifically using an iPad 2.
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EGM Review: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Next-Gen)

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October 29, 2013

Team Edward

Change is never easy. But often, it’s for the best. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a prime example, since it brings plenty of changes for Ubisoft’s flagship franchise.

From a hardware perspective, Assassin’s Creed IV comes during a console shift, launching with next-gen while still catering to the old. Black Flag also marks the first game where Desmond Miles is no longer the present-day protagonist. Instead, players take on the first-person perspective of an Abstergo Entertainment employee who must “research” 18th-century buccaneer Edward Kenway for the sake of a Pirates of the Caribbean rip-off movie the company wants to make. At least, that’s what they say—but if you look carefully, you’ll see there’s a lot more lurking beneath the surface.

The biggest change, though, comes in the story of Black Flag and how it’s told. In Edward’s tale, the Assassin-Templar war gets pushed into the background and serves as little more than white noise compared to the battle Edward has within himself. It almost feels like the series is trying to ease you back into this overarching conflict that consumed the last couple of Assassin’s Creed titles, making Black Flag the best time in a while for newcomers to jump into the action. The lack of overall narrative progression might worry longtime fans, but the story also seems to be laying the foundation for future games by introducing a lot of new pieces.

The story pacing also sees a dramatic shift compared to previous titles—and it’s a far cry from the dragged-out exposition of Assassin’s Creed III. From the second you start the game, you’re thrown right into the thick of it, piloting a ragtag ship in the middle of a raging storm. From there, Edward quickly acquires his hidden blades, his ship (the Jackdaw), and a first mate. Soon, he’s pirating and plundering with the best of ’em. Quite literally, in fact. Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Ben Hornigold, and every other infamous Caribbean captain of the early 18th century knows Edward somehow—and when you see them, rum will be drunk and laughs will be had. In fact, I wish the game offered the opportunity to work with each one a bit more, but since the cast is so large, you only scratch the surface of all your pirate brethren, and it becomes more noticeable as you peel back all of Edward’s layers.

But through all these interactions, we see a blending of personalities we haven’t really seen before from a single hero in the series. Edward exudes charm and charisma that’s only dashed by his own brash stubbornness, similar to Altaïr from the original Assassin’s Creed. But Edward’s also an established man right from the get-go, with deep-rooted relationships and a reputation that’s well-known—similar to a much older Ezio from the Assassin’s Creed II trilogy. He may not get his proper Assassin training until later in the game (which made me wonder how he became so quickly accustomed to the hidden blades), but he’s been sailing for several years when we meet him, and his backstory’s only fleshed out through short flashbacks.

Despite the advanced life experience Edward’s acquired by the time we first meet him, he also has enough room to still undergo a dramatic character shift over the course of the game. While Black Flag may take place within the short time period of only a few years, Edward grows as a character through each subsequent Animus sequence until he evolves into someone worthy of upholding the Creed, and he takes on a persona that will be quickly recognized by fans who read the Assassin’s Creed book, Forsaken. It’s simply the most dramatic character shift of a single character in one game in the series since Altaïr.

Speaking of things we haven’t seen since Altaïr, that brings me to the gameplay. Making a huge return in Black Flag is an emphasis on stealth. Infiltration missions are a frequent task for Edward to further his cause, and though getting spotted won’t always lead to a mission restart, it will lead to dozens of guards swarming you—and unless your swashbuckling skills are top-notch, it might as well be an instant fail.

Aside from the infiltration missions, Ubisoft’s made some tweaks to the infamous tailing sequences—mostly in the form of an overhauled Eagle Vision system. Now, besides seeing the group affiliation of everyone in a crowd, you can also tag your targets. This allows you to see them through walls and buildings so you can follow them from a much farther distance than in previous entries. I’m afraid this new vision is way too overpowered, though. X-ray vision and Eagle Vision should not be one and the same, and this is just overkill, making these missions easy to the point they feel like a waste of time. And if you want to go old-school and not use it at all, the layouts of the island paths aren’t really set up for that design, so you’ll fail a lot more than the developers intended—and it can become frustrating.

One change that most fans will be thankful for, however? The new gun mechanics. They’re akin to what you might find in a more traditional third-person shooter, which makes taking aim and pulling off headshots a breeze. Of course, sometimes you need to take into consideration the bobbing of your boat when boarding an enemy ship out in the ocean, since that can easily throw off your shot.

Now that I mention your ship, the biggest gameplay element in Assassin’s Creed IV is being out on the Caribbean Sea. This is easily one of the most addictive and well-put-together game mechanics I’ve had the pleasure of playing in quite some time; it was a blast using my spyglass to look for enemy ships, boarding them, and then having that ship’s crew at my mercy. When the game’s story made me go back on land, I was honestly disappointed, because I never wanted to leave the water.

There’s so much to do out on the open seas that it’s easy to become lost in the search for buried treasure, hunting sharks, laying waste to smuggler coves, and violently seizing military forts—and you forget there’s actually a story tying all this together. If you make a speed run and just do the story, you’re probably only going to get a 15-to-20 hour game. But if you’re a completionist, you should double those numbers.

Another part of what makes sailing in the open world so enjoyable is the attention to detail. Seeing whales jump out of the water for a breath of fresh air, Spanish and English ships suddenly engaging each other several nautical miles in the distance, or a storm randomly coming together overhead and you have to start swerving and taking cover to avoid waterspouts and rogue waves was phenomenal. And everything looked crisper and clearer than you’d think was possible on next gen.

What really makes the pirate life so fitting for an Assassin’s Creed game is the freedom—with sailing virtually wherever you want, plundering whatever you wish, and stabbing whoever you want in the face serving as the perfect metaphor. The game’s story holds your hand just enough so that by the time you’re done with the first quarter of the tale, you’re ready to roam about and do whatever you wish. In regards to upgrading your ship and Edward’s belongings, there’s a bit of a grind when it comes to the Jackdaw, since you need to board other ships to get the necessary materials and loot. By contrast, you can buy all the pelts necessary to craft Edward’s upgrades directly from shops if hunting animals isn’t your thing.

Besides the story, there’s also the meta-game revolving around Kenway’s Fleet, which allows you to take captured ships, slap a black flag on them, and send them on special missions around the Caribbean—think recruiting Assassins in Brotherhood, Revelations, and Assassin’s Creed III. If your ships successfully complete the missions, you get cash. Unfortunately, this segment would’ve been more enjoyable if the ships got stronger the better they did—much like how you can upgrade the Jackdaw here or how assassins would level up in previous games. One unique difference is the ships can get into a battle minigame to help make trade routes safer—and increase the likelihood of a successful voyage.

Kenway’s Fleet also takes full advantage of the Black Flag iOS companion app so that you can actually send ships out and make money in-game and work with friends to clear trade routes without being tethered to a console. It’s a cool idea, but all it really made me want to do was get back to my controller faster so I could go back out on the ocean and get more ships for my fleet.

So, the single-player’s pretty damn expansive, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any multiplayer additions. The one that will draw everyone’s eye, of course, is the Game Lab. This allows players to fully customize multiplayer matches like never before, drawing from every other mode in the game. Also, Wolfpack has seen an upgrade, with new objectives besides group killing added—including protecting treasure chests or killing multitudes of “infected” soldiers.

In all, this is one of the most complete Assassin’s Creed releases to date. I think longtime fans will appreciate Edward’s story and how tight everything feels, but it might be shocking how little the Assassin-Templar conflict actually moves forward. Think of this as laying the groundwork for the next story arc—almost like a monthly comic book. The pieces are being put in place, and during the process, you’re getting to play the greatest pirate game ever conceived.

Black Flag might not topple Assassin’s Creed II from its perch as the pinnacle of the franchise, but if you love swashbuckling and high-tension adventure on the high seas, this is as good as it gets.

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal  • Publisher: Ubisoft • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 10.29.13
9.5
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag doesn’t move the franchise forward as a whole—but it doesn’t need to. Instead, this is probably the best pirate simulation in gaming history that successfully lays the groundwork for what’s to come in the series.
The Good The high-seas adventures add a whole new dynamic to the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
The Bad Overpowered Eagle Vision.
The Ugly 18th-century dental plans.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is available on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, and PC. The game will be available on PC on November 19th, and is a launch title for PS4 and Xbox One. Primary version reviewed was for PS4.
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EGM Developer Chat: Watch_Dogs Lead Story Designer Kevin Shortt

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September 23, 2013

Hack to the future

A lot of attention has been paid to the unique hacking gameplay Watch_Dogs is going to be bringing to current and next gen consoles in November. But there’s still a story behind Aiden Pearce and his uber-connected world of the near future. With this in mind, we were able to sit down for a few minutes with Kevin Shortt, one of the writers and Lead Story Designer for Watch_Dogs and pick his brain a little.

EGM: Watch_Dogs has been in development for more than four years now and a lot can change in that time. How has the story changed, at all, from the original vision you guys started with?

KS: I think the core idea has always been there. We wanted a bit of an anti-hero whose making questionable choices towards a noble cause. The story itself, for sure, it’s shifted a lot. And that’s going to happen. As you’re working with the game developers and designers and creative director, we all get in a room and we start realizing what the best flow is both for gameplay and for story.

And so as a result, you end up having to shift the story quite a bit to make sure it hits all the right beats and has the right energy. Four years, for sure, you start thinking to yourself “that idea was kind of crap, but this idea is f***ing amazing and we’re going to go with this.”

So, we finally landed on that amazing idea that we’re really happy about it and we think is a story that’s going to resonate with people. They’re going to get pulled into it. What’s cool about the story is it’s really reflective of how the player’s going to play. The player will find it easy to live Aiden’s life because he’s a guy who can’t stand by and just watch people get hurt and I think the way the game is you find you can’t just walk away from these situations. You have to step in.

EGM: Has it been difficult crafting an anti-hero as your main protagonist?

KS: Yeah, well I think any story can be difficult. They can all be quite difficult to make. The easy thing would be to make him a black and white hero, and off you go. But, we wanted him to be three-dimensional, and that means you have to really think about what are the human choices you would make that aren’t necessarily the right choice. We all make these mistakes and I think that’s what we were after, to make sure he was very human.

The people around him, as well; that was an important part. The characters—we’ve mentioned Clara and Jordi, two characters that you meet in the game—they have their own stories as well. And their stories don’t mesh perfectly. They are not crafted to strictly help Aiden Pearce. They’ve got more than that going on. They’ve got their own ups and downs and their own goals that they’re trying to achieve while Pearce is trying to achieve his goals. And that makes for a great collision between the characters and makes for an exciting story.

EGM: What went into the decision to set the game in Chicago?

KS: We loved the character of the city, the landmarks, the history. I think another thing is we looked at it from a gameplay perspective. It’s a great city for that. Look at all those bridges. And we knew this would just translate into a fun city both visually and gameplay-wise to explore and have fun in and that as well was a big reason why we went with Chiacgo.

EGM: What are you most proud of with the story?

KS: That’s hard to say. I guess I’m most proud of the depth of the characters we have. We’ve got a rich cast of characters who all have their own goals and they end up blending well together without serving each other too obviously.

So, overall I’m pleased with how well we crafted the story and integrated it with gameplay. What was different about this game from other games that I’ve worked on is from day one, I was sitting there in the room with the game designers, the creative director, the level designers, and we worked out together how’s the gameplay and how’s the story going to work. That doesn’t always happen in games at all.

Story quite often can come much later. And you’re wrestling to fit your story into the gameplay. For us, we worked on it right from the beginning.

I’d say that’s what I’m most proud of. We’ve gotten to a point where the gameplay and the story mesh so well that I think it all just flows really beautifully together. We’re able to adapt quite easily on the fly. If gameplay has a problem that they need to solve, because we’ve worked together already so well, it’s easy for us to adjust it this way to make it work and still hold everything together.

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Hands-On: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

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September 5, 2013

It’s better down where it’s wetter

At Gamescom, I was able to get my first hands-on with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag‘s single-player campaign. Instead of getting the typical scripted story mission, however, Ubisoft threw me into the middle of the Caribbean Sea for 30 minutes and simply said, “Have fun!” The only limitations? I couldn’t go into Nassau and Kingston yet if I wanted to dock at a major city. Only Havana was available, as well as many of the lesser islands. Of course, the odds of me getting even close to Havana were slim to none, because there was so much to do on the way.

I began the demo on the deck of the Jackdaw, protagonist Edward Kenway’s personal vessel. Eager to try out the revamped sailing mechanics, I immediately took aim at a Spanish convoy protected by some smaller gunships. Looking through my spyglass with a simple tap of a trigger button, I could tell what the convoy was carrying and opened my sails up full, charging rather brashly into battle. While it took me a little time to orient myself to the new aiming mechanics and variety of buckshot, I was fortunate that the bow of the Jackdaw was already heavily fortified, since I plowed headfirst into the aft of one of the gunships. From here, I rained cannon fire on my enemies, easily taking aim with the swivel guns to remove the smaller threats to my crew and using flaming buckshot to quickly wear down my prize’s health.

After dispatching the smaller ships and breaking the main mast of my target, I began the boarding process with a simple button press. From there, my crew let fly grappling hooks that brought our two ships closer together. Once within range, I jumped onto a swivel gun and let some smaller cannon fire whittle down the crew of the opposing ship. Then I jumped across myself and threw another man overboard while stabbing two others in the face with my hidden blade. The ship— and its booty—was ours.

Ah, but since it’s a pirate’s life for me, here was the big question: What to do with the ship? Since I’d crashed as soon as the battle began, I chose to repair the Jackdaw and was rewarded with a short scene of my crew carving up the enemy ship and bringing lumber and other supplies onboard my own vessel. I then sailed away from the empty husk and took aim for shark-infested waters.

Here, I decided to do some hunting. From a rowboat, I threw a harpoon tied to a rope at the head of a bull shark. It didn’t take too kindly to that and rampaged in the water—pulling me and my crew deeper into the sea. After several more harpoons, however, I had some fresh shark meat and skin that could surely be sold onshore for some coin.

Then came my most enjoyable part of the demo, when I took the diving bell down into the sunken hull of a ship as I looked for treasure. This segment intrigued me, because it felt so foreign to Assassin’s Creed. Normally, we’re always adding more armor and weapons to our hero—or our ship—becoming more and more empowered. Here, Edward strips himself of everything in order to more easily sink with the bell to the bottom of the sea. This leaves him unusually vulnerable to the sea urchins, moray eels, and the variety of sharks that roam the area.

Defenseless, I felt somewhat panicked as I swam as fast I could through the rotted ship’s carcass. My goal? Seven different treasures and two Animus pieces. While no one would tell me what the Animus pieces could do, the ship wasn’t considered picked clean until I gathered them up. I barely escaped with my life as several sharks took chunks out of me—I had to punch one in the nose after he clamped onto my leg, which left a trail of blood that began to attract several of the original shark’s friends.

Next, I docked at a small island and took on an assassination contract. Luckily, the target was nearby. I stealthily began to approach my target—making sure to tag him with eagle vision—and took out two nearby guards. Unfortunately, I wasn’t stealthy enough and spooked the target, who then proceeded to run to his nearby ship. I took a couple of shots at him with my pistols, but I missed—badly—and had to chase after him in the Jackdaw. After sinking his ship, I collected my bounty and began my seemingly endless quest toward Havana once more.

Unfortunately, my demo time ended here. The session flew by, though, and while I only saw a small portion of everything going on in the world, I felt like I’d done so much. Depending on how you look at it, Assassin’s Creed IV could be a completionist’s nightmare—or a dream come true. After pulling up the map and zooming out, I discovered that I’d only covered a very small patch and hadn’t even attempted a single story mission, meaning that Black Flag is easily shaping up to be the largest, most immersive game in the series yet.

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Assassin’s Creed IV Will Expand Storytelling Techniques, Says Lead Writer

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July 23, 2013

There are many ways to tell a story through videogames. Something Assassin’s Creed IV lead writer Darby McDevitt wanted this time around, however, was to make sure Black Flag‘s world would help influence and tell the story—beyond expected arcs about buried treasure, damsels in distress, and massive naval battles associated with pirates.

Talking to EGM, McDevitt explained how part of this more subtle form of storytelling through environments starts with the major hub cities.

“You know, our cities are very different. Our city designers have been given a mandate to make sure Kingston has its own flavor. Kingston was a British colony, and the British were probably the worst proponents of slavery at the time, so we’re going to have them come across as the most adamant proponents of slavery,” McDevitt tells EGM. “They were also the worst behaved, so Kingston has to feel more like a town built on slavery and sailors and plantations and things like that.

“Havana was controlled by the Spanish, and they were a lot more—I don’t want to say ‘nice,’ because there’s nothing nice about slavery—but they have a lot more rules in place about buying and selling slaves.  It was much less common, so Havana feels different. It feels more Western European. Even the crowd flow is different, so you can tell stories on that scale.”

The cities in Black Flag only make up a small portion of the world you will explore, though. With some 75 uncharted locations in the game, there’s more than plenty of wilderness to explore and tame as well— within the main story.

“You can be wandering through a jungle and a tree has fallen over and there’s a dead body under it, and then it’s like, ‘Oh, what happened there?’ We’re trying to hit all of those levels, and I’ve found a lot of the little details have surprised me even as the writer,” explains McDevitt. “I think we’re putting a lot more care into that small detail of stripped environmental storytelling, and I hope that comes through to a much greater degree. So yeah, we’re trying to hit a broad sweep of storytelling through the entire world itself.”

Darby’s desire to change how the Assassin’s Creed series tells its stories doesn’t end with adding greater emphasis on environments servicing narrative. The writer also wants to see the ties between the past and the present featured more prominently—something he actively focused on while penning Black Flag.

“We designed the present story to kind of mirror Edward’s place in the story, too. I’ve always felt that the present day stories existed on different planes, you know,” says McDevitt. “Desmond had his thing going on, he was always going back into assassins’ memories to look for stuff, but the themes didn’t always match up. I did like that there was a nice father-son conflict in ACIII in the present and the past, so that was cool.  For ACIV, we wanted keep a little bit of that going. But I can’t say any more than that.”

For more on Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag—launching on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U October 29 with PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions to follow—be sure to check out EGM #260, available on newsstands everywhere now.

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Assassin’s Creed IV’s Game Director Talks About the Importance of Crew

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One of the most appealing features of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is being able to captain your own pirate ship and set sail in any direction, with no man as your master. But piloting your own ship around the Caribbean is far from being a one-man task. You need people you can trust to help guide the ship through rough waters or difficult encounters with government ships less than welcoming to someone waving a black flag. You need a crew. In an interview with EGM, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag game director Ashraf Ismail talked at length about this key gameplay detail.

“We have two types of crews, there’s the named crew and then there’s sort of the Red Shirts. A lot of gameplay comes from the named characters, like your first mate. They have some side missions, which are very key to flushing out their story, to give them a bit more meat and purpose in the overall narrative. And they play gameplay roles as well.”

And while describing unnamed crew as “Red Shirts” might suggest they’re expendable, Ashraf says they aren’t just there to be randomly killed off. They still play critical roles in your adventures on the high seas.

“These are the crew that you can gain or lose based on how you play the game. The unnamed crew is really important for boarding.  If you’re taking on a man-of-war, and you go on with only 10 guys, you’re going to have a lot trouble,” explains Ismail.  “So you need to worry about your crew.  If you lose too much crew, you can’t populate your ship.  So you really have to pay attention to them in regards to the number you have on board.”

Should you fail in your duties as captain to protect and take care of your crew, you need not worry too much—it seems there are a boatload (pun intended) of available crewmen in Assassin’s Creed IV who would love to come aboard the Jackdaw.

“There’s a lot of mechanisms for acquiring crew [through] finding systemic events that have happened in the world that you can see,” says Ismail. “You can save crew and pirates from government patrols, you can go to taverns for crews, you can hire and pay for crew, you can save crew during some boarding scenarios based on some actions that you do, and you can also gain crew who mutinies from enemy ships.  So there’s a lot of ways to gain or lose unnamed crew.”

Through our conversation with Ashraf, we also learned that there is a limit to how much crew you can have. So if you are a phenomenal captain and thought you could just hoard potential crewmen, think again. The Jackdaw’s crew quarters are upgradable, though, so you can always bring more crew along over time (up to a point), of course.

For more information on what to expect from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag—launching on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U October 29 with PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions to follow—be sure to check out EGM #260, available on newsstands everywhere now!  

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EGM’s Armchair Developer: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

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June 24, 2013

Everyone loves speculating about where the Assassin’s Creed franchise will go next. And there are always rumors swirling around ranging from Ancient Egypt to Feudal Japan. In order to try to get ahead of the next wave of rumors, we here at EGM decided to help out the guys at Ubisoft and pitch some of our own ideas about where the franchise should head after Edward and the Caribbean.

Scenario #1:
1990s Seattle – Kurt Cobain and Nirvana’s rise to fame has been fueled by the Templars–and it is your job to put an end to it!

Creative Director, Jean Guesdon: Attractiveness…an eight out of ten. Viability…a two.

Mission Director, Ashraf Ismail: Wow. Do you have to make a deal with Courtney Love? Interesting idea. [Laughs]

Lead Writer, Darby McDevitt: Oooh, I don’t think Kurt could be a templar.  He’d probably not be an assassin though, either cause he was pretty pacifist.

Scenario #2:
1920s-30s US – The Assassins kidnap the Lindbergh baby because Charles Lindbergh is a high-ranking Templar.

Guesdon: No. But this is a good way of thinking, because you’re taking a cool event that we can add a lot more layers to.

Ismail: I can just imagine if we actually do it and we get sued. [Laughs]

McDevitt: Eh, yeah, I could see that.

Scenario #3:
1930s Pacific Ocean – Amelia Earhart is an Assassin who fakes her disappearance in order to disguise an upcoming attack against the Templars.

Guesdon: Could be cool. And it could be the biggest open world we could have, right? Flying all over the planet. But, we just introduced ships. Now we have to introduce planes.

Ismail: Alright, that’s kind of cool actually, that’s not bad.

McDevitt: Yeah, we can do that. Maybe like a jazz age, F. Scott Fitzgerald and all those guys.  Yeah, do like 1920-1935 or right before the war.  And maybe the game ends with the start of WWII.  And everyone’s like, ‘ah, we failed to prevent the tragedy.’  So, instead of the WWII assassins that everyone wants, we actually stop right when WWII begins and invert the story telling.

 

If you’d like to see more interesting tidbits from the guys behind the Assassin’s Creed franchise and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag specifically, be sure to pick up the print issue of EGM 260, out on newsstands everywhere now! (And if you want to see what else is in the issue, head over here for a more comprehensive rundown.)

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E3 2013: EGM Preview: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

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Next-gen haystacks look awesome

Before E3 officially got underway, a select few of us in the game-journalism community were able to go behind closed doors and get a peek at Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Not only did we get a taste of what our colleagues in the industry would see during the show, but we also saw exclusive content that won’t be available on the floor or shown during any of the E3 press briefings. For those of you keeping track, the demonstration featured a PS4 build of the game.

We’ve been told since the game was announced several months ago that, more than ever before, players will be given a variety of choices in Assassin’s Creed IV. An emphasis on stealth will return, but it won’t be forced down players’ throats if they prefer a more forward approach. Each mark has a multitude of ways they can be eliminated, and the open seas will be chock-full of uncharted beaches and islands—and exploration is up to the player.

In our demo, we finally got to see these ideas implemented in actual gameplay and into mission types we’ve come to expect from Assassin’s Creed. The first mission we saw was a sidequest from the always-friendly carrier pigeons, who never know that each flight they make promises the death of a Templar when their messages are read. In this mission, Edward needed to eliminate twin Templar brothers operating on the island of Grand Cayman.

Before we get any further, let me just talk about how stunning the game looked. This first section in Grand Cayman was a small fishing village that gave a great sense of how the foliage and water will look in-game. The water was so blue and crystal clear that you’d think it stepped right out of a travel brochure; the trees were also far smoother and more varied than in Assassin’s Creed III and were adorned with brightly colored fruit, with each branch moving independently of its brethren. This level of detail continued throughout our demo: Ever-present haystacks, underbrush players can even duck into, and the buildings of Havana’s unique colonial architecture came to life with spectacular visuals.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. After working his way through the small fishing village, Edward came upon the twins, who he marked with his Eagle Vision. One was sitting at a bar, the other bartering with a local salesman. Edward approached the bar, and quietly stabbed the first brother with his hidden blade, and let his carcass slump unceremoniously to the floor. The second brother had noticed and a chase familiar to previous games had begun.

It was here that we began to see some of the new gameplay implementations of Assassin’s Creed IV. The first was free-aiming with your guns. Instead of automatically locking on with his flintlock pistol, a traditional aiming reticule came on the screen and Edward unceremoniously missed, the shot sailing past the still surviving twin’s right leg, as our demo player promised us it would be alright.

Continuing the chase, the twin made it to the docks where his ship was held and he promptly began trying to make his escape. Unluckily for the twin, Edward’s ship, the Jackdaw, was parked right next to him and suddenly this chase through a crowded market turned into a chase on the high seas as we boarded our ship with a rousing “huzzah!” from the crew.

This led to our first naval battle in the demo. The first new addition that caught my eye is that enemy ships now have lifebars above them, giving you a much better sense of how much damage you’ve done to a ship. It’s also a necessary indicator for what came next. After substantially weakening the fleeing twin’s ship with familiar buckshot from the Jackdaw’s cannons, the demo gave us the option to pull up close to it in order to board it. Grappling hooks launches from the hands of our crew and pulled the crippled vessel towards the Jackdaw. It was pointed out that we could have just sunk the ship and still completed the mission, but this would also be our first chance to see the benefits of boarding ships when prompted.

In typical Assassin fashion, Edward dispatched much of the crew and the final twin to complete the mission. But we still had this ship drifting, now captainless, across the Caribbean Sea. It was here the game offered us an interesting array of rewards for successfully boarding and dispatching the crew. We could cannibalize the ship to help fix the Jackdaw, recruit the crew of the ship to add to the Jackdaw’s, or promote a crew member to captain the ship and send it off to be part of Edward’s private fleet. The demo driver chose this final option and we were introduced to a new mechanic in the form of “Kenway’s Fleet”.

Similar to how in Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation you had a ship to trade goods for throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, in Black Flag Edward can build up his own personal fleet to harass unsuspecting vessels. There won’t be any loss of goods here, however. If your fleet should find success on their own individual adventures, all the bounty will find its way to Edward’s pockets.

We were then introduced to one of the ways to command the Fleet and that was through a new, free Assassin’s Creed IV companion app for iPad and Android devices. Not only would this app serve as a way to command our fleet, but it could serve as a permanent world map that you could use to set waypoints live in game with. This is to help keep the action constantly moving so you don’t have to hit the pause button as much. In that same vein, the Animus entries for real world locations, people, and items you may come across on your adventure can also be read through the app, whether you are playing or not. No better way to destroy pacing than reading a few thousand words on game lore, so why not do it when not playing the game?

The next instance of gameplay we saw was one of those uncharted locations I mentioned earlier. A shipwreck caught our eye, washed up against a small sand dune. After jumping off the ship and exploring a little, we came across a recently deceased pirate being gnawed on by a bushel of crabs. After searching his body, we found a treasure map that pointed us to a Spanish controlled island. After sailing through a randomly generated storm, we reached the island and we had the options again of running in and hoping our fighting skills were up to the challenge, or going a stealthier route.

Looking to show off the stealth mechanics, our demo driver took us up a longer, but quieter path along the side of the island, where we only had to dispatch a single soldier before coming across a scene where two unfortunate souls had been a little less stealthy and were caught by some of the Spanish soldiers.

In this scene, we got another taste of the improved HUD, as soldiers now had big white circles above their heads to indicate if they had seen us or not. With a quick whistle, we got the soldiers to come investigate an area where we wouldn’t be anymore by the time they got there, and their circles had turned yellow.  Then we engaged them in combat, where we saw the circles turn red, and we ran them through to rescue the slaves and offer them jobs upon the Jackdaw. We then dug up the buried treasure, synchronized a nearby viewpoint as it was explained they now serve as fast travel points due to the massive size of Black Flag’s world, and headed back to the Jackdaw.

Where most folks at E3 would see this as the end of their demo, we had the chance to continue onward and we’d have been fools to not agree to press on. So, after boarding the Jackdaw again, we came across a heavily defended fort. In order to quell some of the enemy naval activity in the area, we began bombarding the fort’s walls with cannon fire, and sailed out of harm’s way expertly by the demo driver.

After toppling over all six of the forts main towers and walls, Edward and his crew leapt from the Jackdaw and stormed the fort. Once inside, again there were multiple pathways for Edward to take as he began his search to kill the fort’s Governor. Some had more enemies, while others required more free-running sequences, but either way, once you struck down the Governor, the fort belonged to Edward.

Forts aren’t just important for bringing enemy influence down either. We were told a contingent of crew is left behind so that if you are ever in trouble, you can lure enemy ships near your fort and the fort will pummel the enemy ships with cannon fire as well, giving you a permanent ally out on the ocean.

The final bit of gameplay we saw took place in Havana. If anyone had worried that the team behind AC IV would focus too much on the water aspects of the game, you don’t need to worry anymore. Seeing Havana actually triggered flashbacks in my mind to AC II and the team admitted Florence was a heavy influence when it came to its layout and design. Running along rooftops and stealth assassinating posted sentries never looked as good. And the city is absolutely a sprawling urban area full of the life and detail you would expect from any Assassin’s Creed city.

But we were here with a purpose. A local trader had gotten too big for his britches and he needed to be put down. He had grown paranoid, however, and had soldiers stationed around his villa at all times. Here more so than any other gameplay segment we saw was where many options were laid out before us. We could sneak in and do the dirty deed up close and personal in the shadows. Wait until he approached a powder keg just asking to be blown up and fire a bullet at it. Use our berserker blowdarts and have one of his precious bodyguards do the deed for us. Or run in swinging our swords like a madman and hope for the best. I voted for the powder keg option, and that’s what we did. I like explosions.

In order to escape our loud assassination however, we saw a bit more of Edward in direct combat. Much like Connor with his Tomahawk, Edward is an expert with his dual cutlasses and he would often use them both to really drive the point home on his foes, slicing open necks, stabbing both of them through a ribcage, or a flurry of seemingly mad slashes that would cut foes into ribbons.

Even though our demo was only 40-minutes long, we got a sense of the countless acts Edward could do to help the Assassin’s cause as well as forward his own standing in the world. The options given to us cater to gamers of all kinds and the fact that no one style trumps any other will help Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag possibly resonate with fans and newcomers to the series alike. And the sheer scope of the Caribbean Sea looks to hopefully assure gamers that this is the model of what a pirate game should be from here on out.

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EGM Review: AC3: The Tyranny of King Washington – Ep 3

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May 10, 2013

The bear necessity

When last we left Ratonhnhaké:ton, he’d escaped from Boston after striking down Israel Putnam on his quest to rid the New World of Mad King George. Sailing on a liberated Aquila, Ratonhnhaké:ton heads for George’s headquarters in New York—and is stunned to see a pyramid rising from the heart of this great city. Knowing Washington is past the point of no return, Ratonhnhaké:ton begins forming a plan with Ben Franklin as to how to deal with King George and learns of another ally he’ll need to recruit if he has any hope of succeeding: Thomas Jefferson.

Much like the episodes before it, Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington Episode 3—The Redemption (such a mouthful) follows a clear formula. Ratonhnhaké:ton explores a little bit of the familiar-but-changed world he finds himself in before ingesting the toxic tea that allows him to have a spirit journey. He then gets new powers, represented by an animal. Ratonhnhaké:ton kills someone with these powers, and we move on. And when you finish the final episode of this highly anticipated DLC, that’s all you do: You’ll move on.

That’s not to say this was a waste of time, money, or energy, although I think fans would probably have preferred to get the DLC in one 6-to-8 hour helping instead of having it broken into three 2-hour servings; on that front, this episodic DLC failed. Still, the alternate universe that The Redemption wraps up is an entertaining, well thought-out side story to the main Assassin’s Creed timeline that reaches a satisfying conclusion.

The Redemption starts off with a bang, pulling you in far more quickly than previous King Washington DLC offerings. You see, this is the only episode to feature the beloved naval warfare seen in much of Assassin’s Creed III. It was a rush to get behind the wheel of the Aquila again and take on another small fleet of warships. I even chuckled at the reference Ratonhnhaké:ton makes to his grandfather Edward, who we all now know will be the star of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Unfortunately, this strong start and finish can’t hide the fact that The Redemption features weaker narrative buildup and action sequences compared to the previous two episodes. The quest for Thomas Jefferson feels more like a quick errand than some epic goal to reach before confronting King George for the final time. And while the outside of the pyramid feels appropriately daunting, it’s a letdown once you actually enter the structure. The final confrontation with George at least lives up to the hype, even if it’s a little on the short side.

I also will say that the bear powers that allow you to stomp the ground and send enemies flying everywhere—with those closest to you instantly dying—are much more fun to use than the wolf and eagle powers from previous episodes. But just like those enhancements, the bear powers make many of the missions far too easy and remove any thinking required from reaching the mission objectives.

The Redemption provides a fitting conclusion to this DLC storyline, and if you’ve come this far, you’d be remiss to not finish it off. I think only the most diehard of Assassin’s Creed fans will truly walk away from these three episodes completely satisfied, however.

Developer: Ubisoft Quebec • Publisher: Ubisoft • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 04.23.13
6.5
A strong start and finish to the final King Washington episode help carry what’s probably the weakest action and narrative of the entire DLC miniseries. The new bear powers are also more fun to use than the wolf and eagle powers from previous episodes, though only hardcore Assassin’s Creed fans will be totally satisfied with the experience.
The Good A fitting, satisfying end to this miniseries.
The Bad The weakest narrative—up until that end sequence—of all three episodes. 
The Ugly Ratonhnhaké:ton’s brilliant blue bear eyes.
Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington – Episode 3 – The Redemption is available on Xbox 360 (XBLA), PS3 (PSN), and PC. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360.
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