9. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is released later this year on both current and next-gen consoles. It is the sixth game in the AC series and is focusing on something that was largely praised in ACIII; Pirates and Naval missions. Many people feel jaded with the AC series since its annualisation, feeling it has become watered down and less significant. I agree that it makes it entirely un-exciting whenever a new AC game is announced, however I wouldn't have wanted to wait 2 or 3 years for a game like Brotherhood or Revelations, not that they're bad games; they're just not good enough for a 2-3 year development time. I personally am still a fan of the AC series and will be buying Black Flag, just not while it remains at full price, as it feels like a Brotherhood to me - not worthy of the number IV in the title. I also was a fan of ACIII and never understood the abuse it received; sure, the ending sucked and Connor was a huge step back from Ezio, but the world and attention-to-detail was amazing, while the way they intertwined history with fiction was incredible! Not to mention, the fun side missions, wildlife and evolving homestead. Black Flag looks like a fun game, but not one that will advance the modern-day story of the series, which has irritated me after the poor ending of ACIII. I hope I'm wrong and the story is progressed, but I'm just not overly excited for it as of yet. As with all the AC games, I'm sure this one will be a great experience; I'm just not sure it can win over the nay-sayers.
Predicted Rating: 7.5