Assassin’s Creed: Pirates is an iOS game which is based on the pirate aspects of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The original is famous for giving players the chance of living the life of a pirate, which includes taking down forts, boarding ships, fighting sharks and looking for hidden treasure. Assassin’s Creed: Pirates tries to recreate that feeling with the limited hardware present in iOS and Android devices.
Taking control of Captain Alonzo Battila, you can navigate the open Caribbean Sea and it gives you freedom to choose from a selection of activities to take part in. Assassins Creed: Pirates looks impressive on a tablet, with the draw distance and lighting effects worthy of recognition. While you can move around the map by dragging your ship, the act of sailing to your objective and the soundtrack, which has been directly picked up from Black Flag, add to the immersive experience.
Basic gameplay involves exploration and ship combat, and both have been elegantly re-designed for touch screen devices. It’s more turn-based in nature and firing canons can be accomplished via a simple touch and hold scheme. When fired upon, players must dodge enemy canons. This battle system is both simplistic and fun, even though it’s completely unrealistic. Other sequences require you to swipe and tap the canons and barrels enemies throw at you, adding to the variety. You can also capture new ships and upgrade them with the help of the resources you collect from naval combat and exploration.
Developers have tried to create spinoffs on tablets before, but Assassin’s Creed: Pirates is a rare gem. While the ship combat can get repetitive and tedious after a while, it understands the difference between console and mobile gaming, and does not try to mix the two experiences. 2014 has seen numerous delays and while no big games are coming out in July and August on any major platform, there is one available for free on iOS. The game otherwise costs Rs 300 on the AppStore and Rs 365 on the Play Store.
