Finally playing Black Flag. Was it this frustrating on release?

Playing on Xbox and the controls are what's killing it for me. Yes, the tailing and eavesdropping missions are tedious but I can get past that.

The controls just... Absolutely frustrating. Trying to chase someone down an alley, Edward suddenly jags to the right and tries to do some chin ups on a shop awning. Chasing down a shanty page on a rooftop, he leaps sideways off a balcony into the street.

Perhaps the most frustrating one yet just happened to me. Trying to subdue a man 'o war by destroying it's flag, Edward flat out refuses to climb the last section of mast and instead leaps off the rigging to his death. Purely to spite me, it seems.

He behaves like a cross between a spiteful monkey and a startled cat. He can barely walk past a wall or balcony without leaping on to it and then refusing to get down. I can almost hear him hissing at me as I plead with him through the screen to stop fucking around and start chasing the bad guys.

And then when you WANT him to climb shit, he just refuses. Hangs off ledges like an idiot while Spanish soldiers shoot at him and the target runs away. Boards a ship then crouches on the railing and refuses to get down. Climb to the top of a mast? I don't fucking think so.

Im trying to enjoy the game, and mostly I do because the pirating parts are awesome despite its age the game is still gorgeous, but nearly anything to do with actual assassin shit is so painfully annoying... And it bleeds into the rest of the game as well through combat and encounters.

Sorry. Rant over.