Halo 4 enemy AI - too familiar?

Games Other Halo
1

First up, this is not a hate thread.

But the enemy AI in Halo is, IMHO, in dire need of some real shaking up for the next Halo. If anything, above all else, I look forward to with next-gen hardware - it’s the possibility of giving enemies vastly improved AI for a better campaign experience.

This, and only this, is what I look forward to the most for the next Halo. Next gen graphics? Sure. But next gen AI - definitely.

Halo 4’s campaign was more tedious than I expected. Fighting a Covenant who’ve basically not changed in years… they need to change.

Example: 8-foot Elites - probably capable of leaping of cover, sprinting at faster than spartan speed… but instead, they move like a guy in a rubber suit. Nothing in their combat style to suggest they are different to a Spartan.

Hunters - walking tanks, but do they hunt? Not really. They waffle about, shooting from a distance.

Jackals - just hide behind their shield. Even if they would climb to a higher vantage point to snipe, this would make them more interesting. Even Sniper Jackals far too often just stand there like sitting ducks, even after return fire.

Anyway. I’m sure AI will be looked at for the next Halo campaign. The point is, for an alien race, the Covvies don’t do much different that, say, play’s to each races strength as much as I think they should.

The new enemies - I’ll cut them some slack. They’re new. But the Crawlers - why not just call them Robo-flood. Just harder to kill.

Knights - Robot Elites. Teleport - why are they playing hide-and-seek? The only interesting tactic they have is when they charge towards you.

Hope this changes for Halo 5.

2

You bring up a very good point op.

It’s a shame people pay more attention to story or graphics than what gives life to the campaign.

Elites: these are not Elites plain and simple. Zealots are the only ones to utilize an AA and even then, it’s just typical perma camo. There’s an Elite Ranger on Composer who can turn it on/off. Why can’t Zealots do this? Speaking of Zealots, why don’t they jump at us? The aforementioned Ranger is capable of it and can be very ninja-like.

Hunters: in Reach they were roadblocks. In Halo 4 they are police lines. Almost always, they must be defeated to progress. I liked how in Halo 3 on The Covenant, you could skip them but they’d pursue you into the next room or present a threat when you came back down.

Jackals: Exactly.

Knights: Yeah, teleport isn’t much of a game changer. It feels cheap, especially when it couples with their insane shield recharge rate.

3

I just need to say this, but even on Legendary difficulty, bots in Wraiths are freaking stupid. They just stand still when I’m shooting them with my Ghost, not even trying to dodge my shots. It’s ridiculous.

4

The AI for the covenant to me is basically the same or feels the same as Halo Reach.

5

> I just need to say this, but even on Legendary difficulty, bots in Wraiths are freaking stupid. They just stand still when I’m shooting them with my Ghost, not even trying to dodge my shots. It’s ridiculous.

The Banshees are worse.

6

> > I just need to say this, but even on Legendary difficulty, bots in Wraiths are freaking stupid. They just stand still when I’m shooting them with my Ghost, not even trying to dodge my shots. It’s ridiculous.
>
> The Banshees are worse.

At least 5 times on Legendary run I saw an AI Banshee be stuck somewhere on the ground against a wall. I’ve never seen that happen in previous Halo games.

7

> > > I just need to say this, but even on Legendary difficulty, bots in Wraiths are freaking stupid. They just stand still when I’m shooting them with my Ghost, not even trying to dodge my shots. It’s ridiculous.
> >
> > The Banshees are worse.
>
> At least 5 times on Legendary run I saw an AI Banshee be stuck somewhere on the ground against a wall. I’ve never seen that happen in previous Halo games.

Then you’d be surprised. Banshee AI are somewhat notorious for being…stupid, and they do like to fly into walls/corners and just be stuck there for a while. It’s not just Halo 4.

8

> > > > I just need to say this, but even on Legendary difficulty, bots in Wraiths are freaking stupid. They just stand still when I’m shooting them with my Ghost, not even trying to dodge my shots. It’s ridiculous.
> > >
> > > The Banshees are worse.
> >
> > At least 5 times on Legendary run I saw an AI Banshee be stuck somewhere on the ground against a wall. I’ve never seen that happen in previous Halo games.
>
> Then you’d be surprised. Banshee AI are somewhat notorious for being…stupid, and they do like to fly into walls/corners and just be stuck there for a while. It’s not just Halo 4.

Sure they sometimes got stuck for a while in previous games, but in this game they stay there. They don’t even try to turn around.

9

Not just the enemy AI, but the Ally AI too.

10

> Not just the enemy AI, but the Ally AI too.

oh god, the ally AI is horrible. I keep trying to get a marine into my turret but for some reason he kept trying to hop in the passenger set… the ally AI is more irritating then halo 2’s

11

> > > > I just need to say this, but even on Legendary difficulty, bots in Wraiths are freaking stupid. They just stand still when I’m shooting them with my Ghost, not even trying to dodge my shots. It’s ridiculous.
> > >
> > > The Banshees are worse.
> >
> > At least 5 times on Legendary run I saw an AI Banshee be stuck somewhere on the ground against a wall. I’ve never seen that happen in previous Halo games.
>
> Then you’d be surprised. Banshee AI are somewhat notorious for being…stupid, and they do like to fly into walls/corners and just be stuck there for a while. It’s not just Halo 4.

Ever since Halo 3 actually. Halo 3 is where they first started to behave badly. I know a spot on The Covenant where you can trick all 8 Banshees into getting stuck between 2 tree branches.

CE Banshees would bounce against objects so they rarely got stuck.

Halo 2 had the Banshees in open areas. You had to lead them into an enclosed area for them to get stuck (like when getting the Scarab gun on Metropolis).

In Reach, I’ve only seen it on Winter Contingency to be honest.

But in Halo 4, it is very prevalent. I suspect it has to do with how horrible the Banshee is. Very difficult to control. You can’t even descend like you could in Halo 3 (by holding down the A button when using the Default control scheme).

> Sure they sometimes got stuck for a while in previous games, but in this game they stay there. They don’t even try to turn around.

True, I remember going behind stuck Banshees in Halo 2 (including allied Elite pilots turned enemies) and they would turn around when I reached a certain distance.

12

> The AI for the covenant to me is basically the same or feels the same as Halo Reach.

This

13

It’s not so much the ‘errors’ in AI, like Banshees getting stuck. It’s the sandbox itself that needs a reboot.

For example: Playing legendary, first level, after opening the blast shields and being flanked by two covvie ships. After taking out 3 grunts with a grenade and a few assault rounds, it’s just me and one of the Elites. I take cover behind one of the boxes to the right (in the narrow space between platform and window).

Waiting behind cover, the Elite moves up to the platform next to me. In clear sight, I’ll take a couple of shots. Elite moves… down to the bottom of the platform. He takes a few shots at me. I shoot back. Elite moves to the top of the platform…

Rinse. Repeat. Until I finally plasma him and run him down with assault rifle fury.

It sounds stupid asking for more ways to die, but it would be great if the AI could script a behavior where, if the Elite is above, as what happened here, it might jump the rail on the platform and try an assassination or something.

This is just a simple example of how the combat AI sandbox has become a little stale.

Even for the mere fact that, alone, the MC cannot take on more than one Elite at a time without getting into some SERIOUS trouble (on legendary, I mean), the AI never pushes the 2 Elites in this first level encounter to do more than hide behind the grunts, taking pot shots and diving away from grenades. You are outnumbered, by a vastly stronger enemy, and they take no advantage.

I’ve also noticed moments where it looks like an enemy is searching for you, even though you’ve not moved from the spot you were when you last shot at them.

Given the possible limitations of current hardware, fine. But please, 343, work on this for Halo 5. The combat sandbox and AI needs a reboot.