I think AC4 is more successful in it’s pseudo “anti-war” (ofc an action game can’t really be anti war) theming than specops, mgs, etc in part because of the weird format. The clip I posted above was basically an entire story mission, There was maybe 30 seconds of approaching the enemy before that. The game has this monotonous rhythm to it, where you’re just clicking through menus, tweaking the AC, messing w your paint job and decals etc, then you’re dropped into the 2-minute long explosions of barely-controlled violence.
The premise of the game is that in the setting of environmental collapse, corporations initiated armed conflict with the world’s state governments, won, and dissolved them. Now there’s continuous warfare among them contesting scant remaining resources. The planet is basically a wasteland, dotted by militarized corporate enclaves. People don’t really live in communities, they maintain enormous weapons platforms.
The player pilots a “NEXT” which are generationally more powerful and sophisticated mech things. Only a limited number of NEXTs have been produced, and in combat the “enemy” typically arrays dozens and dozens of NORMALs against you: basically older generation mechs and familiar hardware like tanks, artillery, attack helicopters - these all go down in a single shot. You get the sense after a while that corporations are just clearing out old inventory in these conflicts, and on the other side you’re conducted live-fire R&D, although maybe everyone wins in the MIC.
The repetitive format and budget feel of the game give the impression that the player isn’t a person, they’re more of a weapon, maybe like a drone pilot. The controls are complex and difficult to get a handle on, but the weapons systems themselves are so competent in targeting that they sort of kill on their own. You’re not always altogether in control both in the macro sense (select a mission, 2 min spasm of violence, get paid, repeat) but in the mechanical feel as well. It’s not satisfying to “win,” especially against a NORMAL counterforce. It is kind of thrilling to face off against another NEXT though, at least you might die
So it’s an affecting experience playing this game, and it’s critique is a lot sharper than of course us #gamers are accustomed to: the player is nothing but the weapon Property uses to enforce itself; it’s real ugly and it’s pointless because the planet is dead; there doesn’t seem to even be anything to “own” other than weapons and their proprietary rights. But of course the game still tries to be cool and fun, so I don’t want to overstate the case. Great game though! Way darker and entropic than even Demon’s, which seems like the most compulsively self-flagellating of the souls games
