Recently I’ve gotten around to playing Crysis 2 again. This isn’t a review of the game so I won’t go into great detail but I think it’s a very good title despite some obvious flaws, one being the artificial intelligence. It’s bad. There’s really no nice way to put it. Whether they’re human or alien, enemies frequently spin in circles, run into walls or stand perfectly still as you gun down their friends right in front of them.
This got me thinking though, what was the last game I played that had truly impressive AI? And out of the hundreds of shooters I’ve played over nearly a decade, only two come to mind. The original F.E.A.R and Half Life. In other words, a game that came out nine years ago and another that came out sixteen years ago.
Most action games have you fight enemies that will happily fall to their death just to knock ten points off your health bar, and this was very much the case when Half Life first came out. Back in 1998, soldiers throwing grenades to flush you out of cover, flank you and forming groups to take you out was amazing.
The original Halo also had tough and smart enemies in the form of the Elites but for me, the game that made the biggest leap was Monolith’s 2005 bullet-fest, First Encounter Assault Recon. Dumb title but the clone soldiers are not. It took all of the best cues from Half Life while expanding upon them, with enemies jumping through windows and knocking over objects for cover.
Yet, in both Half Life 2 and F.E.A.R. 2, rather than try to expand and improve these mechanics even more, the developers dropped them completely. Ever since 05, games don’t seem interested in having you fight intelligent enemies. So what or who is to blame?
I may not be a programmer but I’m sure there must be a reason why AI’s aren’t evolving. There’s the possibility that it doesn’t seem to matter. Half Life 2, despite having enemies that didn’t do anything more sophisticated than side-step is considered by many – including myself – to be the best first person shooter ever made.
Perhaps AI is seen as not worth the effort compared to atmosphere, power fantasies or simply getting the game out of the gate. Whatever the case may be, I still believe that it’s one part of gaming that should improve, not degrade.
Much like dialogue systems in RPG’s – which are also devolving – AI is crucial to a game. When done right it makes the experience more engaging. It’s cool to feel like an unstoppable badass killing your enemies but it’s even more fun to outsmart them as well.
What do you guys think? Has A.I. gotten worse? And if it has, why? Whatever you think, let us know in the comments.