Not my favorite way to review a game (by comparison) but here are the thoughts of an AC3 fanboy -which also happens to be the first AC game I played-:
- Plot: AC4's plot is very simple but I'd say it's solid. I like the fact that the enemy is not portrayed as a monster and are also looked as humans; with this said, it has nothing on AC3's transhumanist/cyberpunk plot.
- Mission structure: this is my biggest gripe with this game, I don't like the game throwing me in a mission to "destroy as much as you can in 20 minutes", it's a step-down from most of the objective-based missions in AC3 and are also not as varied. With that being said, I loved Stonehenge Offensive and the last 2 missions.
- Plane variety: I like realistic jets but I miss the over-the-top designs from Neucom in AC3, you had both choices in AC3.
- Replayibility: because of AC3's 5 different endings the game has a lot of replayability. This on the other hand is more of a "you can keep replaying if you want better scores and unlock all the planes".
Maybe not as important for everyone but the cutscenes suffered a budget cut since they are not animated in this one as opposed to AC3.
It's still a really good game don't get me wrong but the mission structure and plot stop me from putting this in the same level as AC3.
- Plot: AC4's plot is very simple but I'd say it's solid. I like the fact that the enemy is not portrayed as a monster and are also looked as humans; with this said, it has nothing on AC3's transhumanist/cyberpunk plot.
- Mission structure: this is my biggest gripe with this game, I don't like the game throwing me in a mission to "destroy as much as you can in 20 minutes", it's a step-down from most of the objective-based missions in AC3 and are also not as varied. With that being said, I loved Stonehenge Offensive and the last 2 missions.
- Plane variety: I like realistic jets but I miss the over-the-top designs from Neucom in AC3, you had both choices in AC3.
- Replayibility: because of AC3's 5 different endings the game has a lot of replayability. This on the other hand is more of a "you can keep replaying if you want better scores and unlock all the planes".
Maybe not as important for everyone but the cutscenes suffered a budget cut since they are not animated in this one as opposed to AC3.
It's still a really good game don't get me wrong but the mission structure and plot stop me from putting this in the same level as AC3.