Revolutionary in 2001 and still unmatched by many games today, Halo’s artificial intelligence truly helped first-person shooter combat evolve.
The Halo series has long been renowned for its dynamic gameplay that features simple mechanics layered into more complex combat encounters. This and its excellent story campaigns have contributed it the series’ reputation as one of the best first-person shooters ever made and established it as Microsoft’s flagship Xbox title. A major factor that has helped Halo success is its enemies and their advanced and challenging artificial intelligence.
Prior to Halo, many enemies in first-person shooters typically had very rudimentary AI, often running straight into the player and acting as pieces of meat to be riddled with bullets. The most complex AI ever really got was in Half-Life, where enemies would at least be smart enough to retreat and take cover. Halo implemented these behaviors and many more, adding layers to every battle and forcing players to think on the fly.
The enemy AI of the original Halo: Combat Evolved was hailed for its brilliance, coded to be believable. Specific enemies have unique behaviors and nuances that, even as they become familiar and predictable, are never mundane enough to causes encounters to feel the repetitive. When the player knows what each enemy can and may do, they will frequently make micro-decisions and short-term strategies to meet the opposing force.
For example, Grunts panic and cower very easily. As soon as their leader is defeated, their numbers dwindle, and if a plasma grenade is stuck to one of them, they run like headless chickens straight into their demise. The Jackals will always carry shields, dodge roll, snipe at the player from an unseen corner or even charge up their plasma pistols to deplete Chief’s shields. The Hunters prove much smarter than the average bullet sponge enemy as they track their shots with their fuel rod cannons and immediately try to strike at the player the moment they get close.
However, by far the most impressive and complex of the Covenant troops is the aptly-named Elite, which are not only very strong and imposing in their own right, but also terrifyingly intelligent. Properly taking cover, retreating when under heavy fire and evading the player’s attacks, they even attack the player with melee attacks in close ranges and go into a suicide charge when close to death, becoming more ferocious and aggressive in combat. Alongside stronger variants, some of the later Elites come equipped with swords that instantly kill the player, either catching the player by surprise when cloaked in camouflage or goading the player to approach them as they hide behind cover.
The synergy between the enemies of the original Halo was so tightly-knit and perfectly designed that it became difficult for Bungie and 343 to introduce new enemies that would fit in with the intelligence of the other Covenant troops, often leading to arrangements that deliberately separate certain enemy types from each other. The swarming insectoid Drones would only really be fought in scripted encounters, while the bloodthirsty Brutes never fought alongside the Elites and outright replaced them in Halo 3, even borrowing similar tactics as they eschew their typical bullet-sponge lumbering from Halo 2.
When 343 took over the Halo series, it introduced the Prometheans, robotic troops that act as the remains of the Forerunners’ wills. These opponents have completely different behaviors and strategies from the Covenant, being equipped with their own sets of weapons. While the attempt to introduce new enemies into the typical Halo gameplay loop is brave and impressive, a lot of veteran fans found that they didn’t quite fit the formula of the series and that fighting them turned out to be quite tedious on harder difficulties. Things worsened with the introduction of the Wardens in Halo 5, bullet sponge boss fights that forced players to use cheese strategies.
Infinite aims to bring Halo back to its roots, bringing back Covenant enemies as part of its own new faction in the Banished without radically changing the strategies and enemy synergy that made the series so beloved. The open-world setting aims to complement the series staple of sprawling battlefields where anything can happen. This return-to-form has been met with a lot of fanfare, with early reviews being very positive as the classic enemies return with improvements and unique spins of their own — and none of this would have been possible without the strong foundations set by the older games and their impressive AI systems.
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About The Author
Vladimir Olivares (142 Articles Published)
Vladimir Olivares is a writer, illustrator, and short film-maker based in the United States. Fond of comic books, manga, movies, video games, and TV shows of various different genres, he is knowledgable in classic comic book history and is well-versed in other forms of graphic novel media of varying genres, ranging from fantasy, noir, and science fiction, both from Western authors to that of Japanese manga. Vladimir is currently working as a freelance writer for Valnet, Inc., covering Comic Book Resources. Follow him on Twitter at @valolivares123. and check out his art page on Artstation.