I Loathe Catch-Up A.I.
Sorry I haven't been posting for the last few days. Every time I sit down to write something, a friend calls or I lose my train of thought or my O.C.D kicks in and I have to clean my room. Anyways, I do indeed hate Catch-up A.I. This occurs when I'm stomping the computer in a video game like NBA Jam or Madden and all of a sudden I start losing....big. The computer uses cheap moves and my buttons all of a sudden don't work and my lead shrinks. I'll be up 30 or 40 points in a game, then the momentum shifts and my payers act like they all were fed laxatives. I simply hate that the computer change the pace of a game so quickly and cause me to lose because it needs to play catch-up. If I set a game on hard then I do expect the artificial Intelligence to be tough, but not cheap like my players not executing plays right or providing any sort of defense. So if you are a game designer and read this (not a high probability) Stop being cheap. Thanks.
posted by Brian at 1:10 PM
3 Comments:
I hear ya. Frequently called "rubber-band AI" in racing games, it was particularly bad in Burnout 3: Takedown. I remember playing that game, performing a colossal Takedown, and seeing the message, "You're 5 seconds ahead!" pop up immediately after. Makes sense, yes?
Than, literally a FEW SECONDS LATER, I see, "He's right on your tail!" Yeah, THAT was annoying. Thankfully, Burnout: Revenge altered the problem a bit, to make it much less infuriating. It's still THERE, mind you - all arcade racers and most sports games always have this nonsense - but it's much more manageable and not nearly as insane.
I remember having the same problem in playing L.A. Rush back in the day and now more frequently with NBA jam on the Super Nintendo. If developers want people to keep playing these games, I hope they make them more lifelike instead of trying to cheat you again and again. because really, who wants to play with a cheater?
Well, it certainly has no place in simulators (duh), but in arcade-style games like NBA Jam, it may never die. I think the developers are still rooted in the arcade days when you needed to keep the player playing for that extra quarter... Thing is, if someone got too good and too far ahead, they'd stop playing. Easy fix? Catch-up AI. It retains a competitive nature no matter how good you are.
It's just a remnant of those days that really may never die, unfortunately.
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