AI bots in shooter games - which are the best or worst?

I was just finishing up FarCry 2 on the xbox and that game is probably best known for the re-spawning checkpoints populated with the super annoying mercenary AI bots... let me speak of these bastards for one moment.

FC2 bots don't die easily, even on easy mode, these bots are going to snipe you from nowhere, flank you on both sides... they really love to take any vehicle to drive over you at top speed, pinning you to a tree or a rock... I hate these bots to death. In many cases you can put them down but they are still alive taking pot shots at you with a pistol while laying in the grass where you can't find them

But when you get a sneak on them to listen to their AI conversations (they are aware of your reputation) it is worth it... "Who is this guy? FBI? CIA?"

So let's talk about game AI, the good the bad and the ugly, in modern computer games. I'd like to hear about some examples of FPS AI and strategy AI, plus., the Civilization series has it's own followers, like to hear from them as well.

Skyrim (even though it's not a FPS) has some funny AI. I was playing yesterday when a mudcrab attacked a guy, and he started yelling in a hysterical fashion "Help me helpm i'm being attacked" I laughed so bloody hard

Also Battlefield 3's ally AI is strange, i had an instance where my team mates were walking through walls and #. Also, they have a problem of standing still, breaking the current mission.

Assassin's creed *(1,2 & Brotherhood) - It's AI just walks around the city until you do something, then guards try to kill you - gtes boring, real quick

Gears of war 3, though its not an fps, it still as some great AI, i just got it over thanksgiving break and the AI is superb i.e. their a beezy to kill but once you pull of the kills its pretty satisfying and you feel good in the end lol. Ive always wanted to play farcry 2, i was a fan of farcry instincts for the original xbox. Crysis which is made by the same people of farcry comes to mind as an amazing AI as well, Crytek the company im pretty sure is very well known for their AI.

Originally posted by daaskapital
Skyrim (even though it's not a FPS) has some funny AI. I was playing yesterday when a mudcrab attacked a guy, and he started yelling in a hysterical fashion "Help me helpm i'm being attacked" I laughed so bloody hard

I was going to bring that game up too haha i love that game, ya there's a lot of glitches but i think glitches are pretty funny.

Background on the topic.

Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters (NPCs). The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence (AI). However, the term game AI is often used to refer to a broad set of algorithms that also include techniques from control theory, robotics, computer graphics and computer science in general.

Since game AI is centered on appearance of intelligence and good gameplay, its approach is very different from that of traditional AI; workarounds and cheats are acceptable and, in many cases, the computer abilities must be toned down to give human players a sense of fairness. This, for example, is true in first-person shooter games, where NPCs' otherwise perfect aiming would be beyond human skill. Source en.wikipedia.org...(video_games)

And a question to start: When you play these games against AI are you playing on low or high difficulties? I tend to play on low or normal. I'll try insane or hardcore mode just to see how tough it is... but I don't play these games for frustration!

Originally posted by thatshicray

Originally posted by daaskapital
Skyrim (even though it's not a FPS) has some funny AI. I was playing yesterday when a mudcrab attacked a guy, and he started yelling in a hysterical fashion "Help me helpm i'm being attacked" I laughed so bloody hard

I was going to bring that game up too haha i love that game, ya there's a lot of glitches but i think glitches are pretty funny.

Haha, agreed.

Originally posted by daaskapital

Assassin's creed *(1,2 & Brotherhood) - It's AI just walks around the city until you do something, then guards try to kill you - gtes boring, real quick

edit on 4-12-2011 by daaskapital because: (no reason given)

This sounds a bit like Grand Theft Auto ... when you start breaking things the cops put wanted stars on you.

In both cases, the AI is programmed waiting for you to do something which it can recognize and respond to, basically the AI wants to kill you but is held waiting for a good reason to do so! HAHA.

reply to post by thatshicray


The Gears 2/3 I couldn't agree more. Good, challenging stuff. I've played a lot of Horde mode on that series.. but at a certain point the game is not making the bots more clever at higher levels... the computer gets cheap advantages like 2x, 3x power and that ruins it for me.

I'd like good "dumb" AI at the lower levels and good "clever" AI at the higher levels. It's kind of lame when they just add power to the bots instead of changing their procedures.

Far Cry 2 still looks ok after 3 years... It's still worth a few bucks of entertainment (or mega frustration!)

Doom 3

I was playing Mass Effect 2 the other day and needed to leave the room to do some chores, but I let my screen open and didn't pause the game.
Their are enemies, but I hid my character in a dark corner. 90 minutes later, I hear some noises and I see that my Sheppard got killed! I found the AI's action very cool, and very persistent! LOL

reply to post by NowanKenubi


Took 90 minutes to find your Sheppard! That's a very good patrol AI... they must have heard you breathing in the corner? Did you find out who killed you?

In Far Cry 2, I think I could probably sit on top of a hill, in the grass,watch the sun set over the safari landscape, watch the moon come up and around, with the AI patrols in my view, I'm not sure if they could find me unless I started to go through the bushes making noises in the grass.... they can be triggered by sight, by sound, by movement.

FC2 bots can be distracted by explosive diversions, they will go investigate a molotov thrown into the grass. I know Mass Effect isn't quite the same type of game but do they allow you to distract an enemy AI in that manner?

Halo games and Stalker are known for its brilliant AI.

The Metal Gear games likely had the best A.I.

Even back on the PS1, they would follow noises, follow footprints in the snow, check airducts, the works. In the later games, they would even learn your style of playing and adapt, changing their tactics and how they cleared rooms. Those games really made you plan your method of infiltrating or passing through an area. Good times.

the ghosts on pacman are mean little buggers hahah
greatest ai ever

reply to post by SayonaraJupiter


No, we can't distract an enemy in ME2. Because you can throw your powers around the corner, or through a wall.
I couldn't find out who killed my Sheppard, no, he was dead. It was likely a simple guard...

But it's true that in FC the AIs are relentless. And they can spot you from as far as you can spot them. I hate them too! The helicopter was the worst. All I could do at times was run from three to three, hide and wish my character wouldn't get killed until the chopper left, some 10 minutes later!...

Originally posted by SayonaraJupiter
I was just finishing up FarCry 2 on the xbox and that game is probably best known for the re-spawning checkpoints populated with the super annoying mercenary AI bots... let me speak of these bastards for one moment.

FC2 bots don't die easily, even on easy mode, these bots are going to snipe you from nowhere, flank you on both sides... they really love to take any vehicle to drive over you at top speed, pinning you to a tree or a rock... I hate these bots to death. In many cases you can put them down but they are still alive taking pot shots at you with a pistol while laying in the grass where you can't find them

But when you get a sneak on them to listen to their AI conversations (they are aware of your reputation) it is worth it... "Who is this guy? FBI? CIA?"

So let's talk about game AI, the good the bad and the ugly, in modern computer games. I'd like to hear about some examples of FPS AI and strategy AI, plus., the Civilization series has it's own followers, like to hear from them as well.

edit on 12/4/2011 by SayonaraJupiter because: (no reason given)

Thanks for the heads up on getting right in close being worth the effort to listen in. lol... I rarely ever get that close to the baddies in FC2. My favorite trick is to set off a distance and shoot/lob flares in on all 4 sides and watch them burn. Now anyone who hasn't played that will think I'm really psychotic.

Personally, I vote the Unreal Tournament Series for effective and believable A.I.. To the point that I've almost forgotten at times I'm not playing real players on a lower end server. They're always enough to kill a couple hours if I'm in the mood for it.

I also played Co-Op on Battlefield Vietnam on some of those last servers to stay up running it. Now AI there is doing pretty well when a few servers I've played on have maintained large numbers of humans on a strict human/AI team split at all hours and days. One of the best of that franchise to my thinking and largely for the multiplayer bot factor.

reply to post by SayonaraJupiter


OMFG those bots in far-cry...

on the highest difficulty mode (infamous?) they are bloody omniscient...I was sneaking around in the bushes, in the middle of the night, heading towards an objective, and suddenly I hear an engine reving...

"Oh god..." I start turning around frantically trying to figure out where its coming from.

And then I see it. A jeep going full speed comes flying over the hill. Straight at me. I spinted to the side, sliding out of the way, only to be torn apart by the 50cal.

Also, the Human AI in Left 4 Dead versus have pretty much the same level of cognition. There is absolutely no fooling them if theres a direct line of fire between you.

The AI in Brink is horribly stupid when on your team and complete assholes on the enemy team. I've had medics walk right over me when incapacitated, and then an enemy came over and started dancing on me before smashing my head in.

reply to post by SayonaraJupiter


OMFG those bots in far-cry...

on the highest difficulty mode (infamous?) they are bloody omniscient...I was sneaking around in the bushes, in the middle of the night, heading towards an objective, and suddenly I hear an engine reving...

"Oh god..." I start turning around frantically trying to figure out where its coming from.

And then I see it. A jeep going full speed comes flying over the hill. Straight at me. I spinted to the side, sliding out of the way, only to be torn apart by the 50cal.

Also, the Human AI in Left 4 Dead versus have pretty much the same level of cognition. There is absolutely no fooling them if theres a direct line of fire between you.

The AI in Brink is horribly stupid when on your team and complete assholes on the enemy team. I've had medics walk right over me when incapacitated, and then an enemy came over and started dancing on me before smashing my head in.

reply to post by Glass

"Oh god..." I start turning around frantically trying to figure out where its coming from.

And then I see it. A jeep going full speed comes flying over the hill. Straight at me. I spinted to the side, sliding out of the way, only to be torn apart by the 50cal.

Also, the Human AI in Left 4 Dead versus have pretty much the same level of cognition. There is absolutely no fooling them if theres a direct line of fire between you.

Usually the words out of my mouth were "NO YOU DON'T $#%@!$%#@#!"

Now L4D has some bloody good computer team mates --- I'll say that about it. I've never been able to kill a lot of the special infected because the dang computer team makes it look like cake every time! Good thing I play that game on 'casual'.

But try to sneak past a Witch in L4D and those bloody bots won't do it! Good stuff indeed!

Originally posted by daaskapital
Skyrim (even though it's not a FPS) has some funny AI. I was playing yesterday when a mudcrab attacked a guy, and he started yelling in a hysterical fashion "Help me helpm i'm being attacked" I laughed so bloody hard

That's a Bethesda game, they do that a little bit in the FallOut series also. It gives the game a nice sense of randomness in the encounters...

They also have Mud crab mutants in Fall Out 3.. me thinks Bethesda has a 'thing' for mutated seafood that wants to kill you!