FPS games try to create “Artificial Intelligence” but, in general, do a very lousy job of faking the experience. Although F.E.A.R. goes farther than most, the main concept is still “creating the illusion of intelligence” (via sound cues) not by actually making an intelligence simulation.
HALO
Halo did a fair job of of getting a bit closer, as even a tiny insect will exhibit a reaction of fear when threatened. In order to better fake an ‘AI’, one would need to analyze (and exhibit) many ‘intellect-like’ behaviors, including audio cues for behavior when the AI gets in a ‘buggy’ loop and begins acting odd (such as a shell shocked repeating of some funny phrase to at least add humor when stuck in a movement loop). After all, humans can forgive some very odd behavior, if it makes us laugh.
Fear
During Halo, It felt very real to players for the grunts to chicken out and run away, and it was also very funny. Anybody taking a few bullets would not ‘just keep coming’ when they were obviously losing – they would run or at least take cover. Retreating when hurt is not an unusual behavior; although – typical AI avoids this by always pressing on and making a direct path to the player (thereby piling up bodies, stupidly). Consider even a ‘small’ intellect (such as a bug) has more to do during a standard day than most of us believe, as the search for food can be time consuming, and require some thinking outside the box for a creative solution, which FPS ‘AI’ has no method of delivering. ‘AI’ does not ask questions, or arrive at conclusions based upon possibilities, it does not generally even review a few options (such as turning over stones or leaves to find food). It is strictly “if this = then that” in a chain of procedure, which, after a small amount of time appears very predictable – especially in a fight. GRAW, anyone?
One would think someone trying to simulate an ‘AI’ would at minimum study various wasps & spiders and their predatory natures. Maybe I am fighting military units, but all in all – the predatory aspects are what we are taking about, along with defensive, military or not. An AI might flank me, but again, – it never felt like they outsmarted me – it always feels like they can ‘see me’ through virtual walls…. because of the way it happened. Most AI these days might even take cover, maybe scratch their butts – but they fail in too many areas; behaviors which most animals and insects exhibit. Wikipedia, BTW, defines the ‘testing of intelligence’ (birds) as ‘based on studying the responses to sensory stimuli.’
Inter-communication
Many animals have predatory calls. That is – communication between 2 or more creatures to confuse prey, and let each other know what they are up to. Typical FPS games make the mistake of generating information only for the players sake, which tends to dampen realism. Although informative, and helping in gameplay, Half-life 2 did go some distance with this, (Hunters) but they did not carry it as far as it might be, as typical FPS’s use this in varied (if very limited) respects, although, more to warn players that there is an enemy, rather than to identify an enemy with intellect, and create fear in the player, due to feeling hunted themselves.
Distraction
Certain predatory birds (for example) use teamwork while hunting in pairs; and they have been observed as using a “bait and switch” technique, where one bird will distract the prey while the other moves in for the kill. What is missing in typical FPS games is the feeling like (we) the player are the prey when we go up against many enemies. Specifically, there is simply no current method to challenge an army (or platoon) solo without being superhuman, which would imply (realistically speaking) massive superiority (like godhood) or even cheating. So, typically, we will still feel like we are superior and that we are the predator. We do not get smart enemies to fear or dread, we instead get hulking 900 hit (do it exactly right!) arcade action bosses left over from Robotron, or some other 80′s arcade game. The other offer is of course, the typical onslaught of ‘bots numbering in the thousands, to generate some form of victorious feelings on our part in a ‘close up fight’. Yet, at some point, we may even ask ourselves if, after some improved physics and graphics, “what has really changed – beyond the first person perspective?”
Basically – the focus of the typical FPS game is so narrowly aimed at the ‘quick action payoff’, that any genuine “AI” gets bypassed for the sake of ‘action.’ There are no real tactics necessary, as quick pacing forces players to funnel through corridor rat mazes “to get the cheese” makes quick deaths of what might have been smart AI – so, ‘why bother?’ In other words – we instead receive 10,000 ‘AI’ bots that are dumb as a rock in an steady onslaught, (which makes them seem difficult and challenging, i.e. – ‘smart’) instead of 20 tactical brains that made us really think our way through a fight, and even derive some benefit aside from a spastic wrist.
