Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag PC game & performance review

Hardware Requirements, Performance & Conclusion

Ubisoft devoted an entire team at their Kiev location to PC optimization.  The UbiSoft website gives the range of tested PCs for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag:

Black Flag PC System Requirements

Minimum configuration

Operating System: Windows Vista SP or Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8 (both 32/64bit versions) Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q8400 @ 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6 GHz RAM: 2GB for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 Video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or AMD Radeon HD 4870 (512MB VRAM with Shader Model 4.0 or higher) DirectX: DirectX June 2010 Redistributable Disk Space: 30 Gb Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card with latest drivers Peripherals: Windows-compatible keyboard and mouse required, optional controller

Recommended configuration

Operating System: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8 (both 32/64bit versions) Processor: Intel Core i5 2400S @ 2.5 GHz or AMD Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.0 GHz or better RAM: 4GB or more Video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 or AMD Radeon HD 5850 (1024MB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0) or better

Supported video cards at the time of release:

Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or better, GT400, GT500, GT600, GT700 series or AMD Radeon HD4870 or better, HD5000, HD6000, HD7000 series

Note: Latest GeForce drivers tested: 320.49 for all series. Latest Radeon drivers tested: 13.1 for Radeon HD4000, 13.4 for Radeon HD5000 and above.

Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT officially supported.

Nvidia has their own optimization suggestions which may be quite helpful, or a player can just use the GeForce Experience included with the latest recommended 331.93 GeForce drivers.  The GeForce Experience will, at the touch of a button, set near-ideal custom settings for any PC and for more than 100 games including for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Performance

Nvidia suggests that a GTX 780 Ti can max out Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag at the highest settings, including using TXAA at 2560×1600. Our own fluid results with maxed out settings and 4xMSAA or with 2x TXAA at 2560×1600 with a GTX 780Ti suggest that this is correct.  A GTX 760 should be able to manage the highest settings at 1920×1080.   None of the Radeons can run TXAA although a R9 270X can use FXAA or SMAA at 1920×1080 while the R9 280X can use 4xMSAA.  The R9 290X can manage 2560×1600 although 4xMSAA slows it down in the most demanding areas.

Here is the main chart of our performance.

3DVision & Surround Performance

The expected performance drop when playing Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag with 3D Vision 2 using a single GTX 780 Ti suggests it is quite playable with TXAA at 1920×1080 if you turn the shadows to low.  However, we cannot recommend playing in 3D Vision yet.

Above we can see the 3D Vivion performance results with maxed out settings at 1920×1080.  We also show shadows at highest soft-shadowing compared with low settings.

Replayability

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag has some replayability. Mostly a completionist player will want to do everything which may reach 50 or more hours.  You can start over and attempt to complete all the optional objectives or perhaps you may just want to explore everything.

Multiplayer is also an option to add some value to the game.

Conclusion

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag comes highly recommended and we give it a solid 8.0 for Assassin’s Creed series fans; 7.5 for everyone else who doesn’t bother with the modern or backstory. The graphics are extraordinary, the gameplay is enhanced over the earlier games, and the story and voice acting are absolutely top-notch. We feel it is worth the asking price for an excellent long single player pirate adventure and we are looking forward to playing future installments in the Assassin’s Creed series. Recommended!

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is not for those who are easily offended by violence. Nitpicks include the length of the game, checkpoint saves and minor bugs including occasional loss of controls.  The modern story will also be mostly incomprehensible to new players to the Assassin’s Creed series and reading a wiki before playing it might be a good idea.  It is a lot of fun to play as a pirate in this large world and the player will not be bored for many hours.  Yo ho … It’s a pirate’s life for me!

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag has become ABT’s latest benchmark. Stay tuned as we have many more reviews and evaluations coming up. This weekend, you can expect a full review of the PowerColor R9 270X PCS+ and also we quest for 5.0GHz with our new Haswell Core i7-4770K. And of course, join us on ABT forum and speak your mind!