It has been a while since I have blogged, but I just had to write a little review for The Art of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The book is wonderful!

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I am a huge fan of art books, I love to see how ideas come about and how games are made. When I discovered there was an Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag art book, I was extremely excited. Why? Because I love the previous games in the series, especially 3, and I enjoy seeing the effort and research that the creative team behind these games put in.

This book is stunning, I think it is the most beautiful and fully packed art book I have read. You are greeted with gorgeous art on the hardback cover and sleeve before you've even opened the book. Upon opening I was met with a fantastic map and I was already excited. The quality of the images and artwork is phenomenal. Some books overlook how important it is to ensure their carefully crafted artwork or screenshots are in the correct ratio or not losing any quality in printing, but every piece of visual candy in this is presented fantastically and professionally.

Many of the pages have small sections of text, explaining context for images. I personally love this, as it shows the sheer dedication and passion that went into the creation of the game and the depth of research. You can visually see how they used real locations to create their art. A few of the pieces of art or concept art were not included in the final game, so it is a treat to see them and the decisions involved. Some of the artists whose work and insights can be seen within include Raphael Lacoste, Martin Deschambault, Donglu Yu, Maxime Desmettre, Grant Hillier, Yong Jin Teo and many others to appreciate!

The art speaks for itself, with varied locations, designs for characters, and of course ships and weapons. Many images take up a whole page, so you can easily see the little details that have gone into the designs; bits of clutter to add pirate character to ships and interiors; sweeping landscapes which go on for miles; buttons, buckles and trinkets attached to characters. It's all there!

Seeing how the teams researched and used real life ships, history, people and places is rewarding, since all of that work can be visually appreciated within the art and thus the game. I particularly liked a detailed overview of a ship and color-coded sections with relevant labels.

The locations vary from picturesque ports, to ramshackle villages, dark caves, and lush forests. All of them are intriguing and look ready to be explored. I really loved a section which showed an interior filled with period pieces, and small details which make it perfect and really seal the deal on the pirate theme.

The ships! There is a large selection of beautiful ship art, from renderings of a whole ship - including The Jackdaw - to illustrated moments of battle and subsequent sinking. These pieces of art and concept art are evocative and rich.

If you're a fan of the game, of art, or of pirates - there's something in there for everyone. It can be bought from a lot of book stores - including Titan Books directly.