By Jack McAuslan ’16
THE ROUNDUP

9.5 out of 10

For a long time now, ever since the introduction of naval combat in “Assassins Creed III”, there has been dissension between whether such a dynamic improves the game or makes it too complicated.

It seems that this new game is just fuel for the fire; at least half of the game takes place while on the main character’s ship, the Jackdaw.

Your character is Edward Kenway, a farmer from Wales who dreamed of wealth and power and planned to become the richest “privateer” in all of the Caribbean.

Meeting with historical figures such as the infamous Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts and Calico Jack, much of this game is spent plundering ships and looting precious treasure.

This is all great, but don’t think that there is no obvious story line.

The only reason why he is plundering and looting ships is because of his wife, Caroline, back home in Wales.  He wants to make enough money to live comfortably with her for the rest of his life.

The easiest way for him to do that is to team up with the Assassins and take control of the Observatory, an extremely powerful and ancient device that allows someone to spy on anyone in the world.

This game has a beautiful environment with realistic waves crashing into your ship and incredibly bright foliage to sneak through.

The environment is incorporated perfectly into the combat, so you can flip someone off of a roof or throw them into the water.

My favorite part about this game though is buying and upgrading weapons.

There are so many different kinds of weapons, and there are surely more to discover.

As you progress through the game and rack up more and more loot you can upgrade the Jackdaw to give it more and bigger cannons, armor, mortars or even a ram.

You can even take control of your own fleet of ships to take on jobs and earn yourself money and supplies.

There are so many treasures in what is now the biggest Assassins Creed world to date.

These include gold, gems, treasure maps and two unique sets of armor.

This game is a milestone in the Assassins Creed franchise.

It will surely take a long time to get tired of this masterpiece of a game.