FIRSTLY I HAVE COMPLETED ALL CoD GAMES ON VETERAN DIFFICULTY. I AM THEREFORE IN A POSITION WHERE I CAN GIVE BOTH A CRITICAL OVERVIEW AND MY PERSONAL OPINION WITHOUT BEING TOLD I AM APPARENTLY MISINFORMED OR MISSING INFORMATION: I?VE SEEN IT ALL. PROBLEMS APPLY TO BOTH TREYARCH AND INFINITY WARD DEVELOPED TITLES.
ENEMY AI
? ?Hive mind?; suicidally dispossessed enemies with sole intention of killing player character combined with:
? Infinitely respawning enemies ? an irritant in choke points, deadly when combined with above.
o Combined scenario results in unrealistic and frustrating behaviour of all NPCs. Often will be shot and killed almost entirely behind cover by an enemy on the other side of a room, when a friendly NPC is standing next to him or firing on him, or have enemies run past friendly NPCs and friendly lines with the sole intention of killing the player character who is in cover.
Either have enemy AI consider all friendly AI an almost equal threat to the player and engage whichever is the most direct threat to them - with a slight emphasis on engaging player character to ensure challenge ? with infinitely respawning enemies and trigger volumes or;
Have a limited number of enemies in each skirmish, allowing chokepoints to be methodically thinned out. Enemies should accurately throw grenades at the player?s position to keep the player moving and the action fast when they become outflanked or outnumbered.
? Blind fire ? often enemies aim for player character ? and adjust for their movement ? when without direct line of sight. Should not be possible; used for suppression only.
? Refusal of cover ? Enemies often don?t return to cover when being fired on. This makes the basic military strategy of suppression impossible, whilst the enemy AI very effectively and unknowingly perform it on the player (see point 1). Have both AI attempt to suppress the other and react to the other, and seem to have a feeling of self-preservation (Again, see point 1), allowing the player to suppress enemies when killing them is not an option.
o Don?t have enemies take cover behind railings, when they remain fully exposed.
? Mêlée attacks ? these should be as they players: a quick reaction and a last resort. An enemy should not run up past friendly lines to beat you to death. An enemy should not wind up a slow power punch. It should be a quick instant snap to get the player off them, upon which they should attempt to fire upon the player or get to safety themselves.
FRIENDLY AI
? Immersion
o Often NPCs will talk to empty air where the player is supposed to be standing but inevitably aren?t. Have AI track player movements to keep eye contact.
o Friendly AI often walks into the player character, forcing them either out of cover, off of ladders or changing their aim. Have them realise the player?s position at all time, and react with it. Master Chief is not disturbed by Marines; not Halo worship, good game design
 Scripted events often result in this
o Friendly NPCs willingly walk in front of player gun sights when firing. I understand this is an inevitability in most games, but though these friendly NPCs are invincible lest a scripted event roll around, a feeling that they want to live would be nice. (See SENSE OF SELF PRESERVATION)
PLAYER CHARACTER
? Crouching/Prone ? On consoles these movements are bound to the same button; on PC they are two entirely different functions. Having two different buttons to think about in the heat of combat is confusing and lethal.
? Prone ? game will sometimes not allow player character to go prone if they are standing near a wall or solid object. This is constantly lethal in firefights. Obviously a player cannot clip through a wall, but why can?t the game automatically move the player to a place where lying on the floor is possible when they press the crouch button?
Will admit some of these problems only become apparent on veteran or hardened difficulty, when frequent death yields many replays of certain events to observe different outcomes. However, the above listed were highlighted by such segments.
A problem is not non-existent because they player killed everyone before it could happen. The potential should never exist.
Other peoples thoughts please?
ENEMY AI
? ?Hive mind?; suicidally dispossessed enemies with sole intention of killing player character combined with:
? Infinitely respawning enemies ? an irritant in choke points, deadly when combined with above.
o Combined scenario results in unrealistic and frustrating behaviour of all NPCs. Often will be shot and killed almost entirely behind cover by an enemy on the other side of a room, when a friendly NPC is standing next to him or firing on him, or have enemies run past friendly NPCs and friendly lines with the sole intention of killing the player character who is in cover.
Either have enemy AI consider all friendly AI an almost equal threat to the player and engage whichever is the most direct threat to them - with a slight emphasis on engaging player character to ensure challenge ? with infinitely respawning enemies and trigger volumes or;
Have a limited number of enemies in each skirmish, allowing chokepoints to be methodically thinned out. Enemies should accurately throw grenades at the player?s position to keep the player moving and the action fast when they become outflanked or outnumbered.
? Blind fire ? often enemies aim for player character ? and adjust for their movement ? when without direct line of sight. Should not be possible; used for suppression only.
? Refusal of cover ? Enemies often don?t return to cover when being fired on. This makes the basic military strategy of suppression impossible, whilst the enemy AI very effectively and unknowingly perform it on the player (see point 1). Have both AI attempt to suppress the other and react to the other, and seem to have a feeling of self-preservation (Again, see point 1), allowing the player to suppress enemies when killing them is not an option.
o Don?t have enemies take cover behind railings, when they remain fully exposed.
? Mêlée attacks ? these should be as they players: a quick reaction and a last resort. An enemy should not run up past friendly lines to beat you to death. An enemy should not wind up a slow power punch. It should be a quick instant snap to get the player off them, upon which they should attempt to fire upon the player or get to safety themselves.
FRIENDLY AI
? Immersion
o Often NPCs will talk to empty air where the player is supposed to be standing but inevitably aren?t. Have AI track player movements to keep eye contact.
o Friendly AI often walks into the player character, forcing them either out of cover, off of ladders or changing their aim. Have them realise the player?s position at all time, and react with it. Master Chief is not disturbed by Marines; not Halo worship, good game design
 Scripted events often result in this
o Friendly NPCs willingly walk in front of player gun sights when firing. I understand this is an inevitability in most games, but though these friendly NPCs are invincible lest a scripted event roll around, a feeling that they want to live would be nice. (See SENSE OF SELF PRESERVATION)
PLAYER CHARACTER
? Crouching/Prone ? On consoles these movements are bound to the same button; on PC they are two entirely different functions. Having two different buttons to think about in the heat of combat is confusing and lethal.
? Prone ? game will sometimes not allow player character to go prone if they are standing near a wall or solid object. This is constantly lethal in firefights. Obviously a player cannot clip through a wall, but why can?t the game automatically move the player to a place where lying on the floor is possible when they press the crouch button?
Will admit some of these problems only become apparent on veteran or hardened difficulty, when frequent death yields many replays of certain events to observe different outcomes. However, the above listed were highlighted by such segments.
A problem is not non-existent because they player killed everyone before it could happen. The potential should never exist.
Other peoples thoughts please?
