Bioshock Infinite: the AI

I’ve finished the game (spoiler: I loved it!), but I have a few other things to say before writing a concluding overview. This post is spoiler free and addresses AI in the game.

Don’t have a ton to say about the enemy AI. The one act of what seems like cheating I noticed is that they’re (sometimes) unnaturally good at spotting you, even across large distances and if I’m looking at them from behind an object that covers most of me. Or worse: I sneak away from battle and around the building to ambush them, but as I turn the corner they’re already facing me and start shooting immediately. What the heck? But I suspect it’s not so much deliberate cheating (e.g. for the purpose of creating a bigger challenge) as much as the enemies simply lacking sophistication in this area. It isn’t a sneaker game after all, you’re not really supposed to take out enemies that way, so there’s not much point in having sophisticated code for detection.

Saw a video showing the exact opposite thing, the protagonist walking right behind an enemy (in a quiet area), and even in what seemed like the enemy’s field of view, without being detected. Again an example of unsophisticated and unrealistic detection algorithms, but in this case noticing less than what you’d expect (maybe they notice/magically know too much during battle and too little otherwise).

This is not especially detrimental to the gameplay but does break immersion to some little extent. It’s a great game, even downright fantastic, not trying to put it down, it’s just I’ve started to develop an interest in observing AIs, apparently.

The most important and groundbreaking AI in the game aren’t the enemies at all but, of course, Elizabeth, your companion. They’ve done a great job with her, she’s just awesome. I don’t know what to say that hasn’t already been said elsewhere many times, but she helps out a lot, she continually reacts to things in the environment, she has emotions and attitudes, she looks at things that interest her, she hides or otherwise protects herself during battle; she acts on her own. It’s not all just to make her real and relatable; she’s also useful in different ways: helps with supplies during and between battles, she picks locks, she solves riddles. And she’s of course an important part of the narrative (in multiple ways), whether she wants to or not. 

There are many videos on youtube where they talk about developing Elizabeth and where they demonstrate various things she does (some of which you might not even notice playing the game e.g. from rushing through an area), in particular all work they put into humanizing her, to make sure she doesn’t do “gamey” things like being to passive or reactive, such as just standing still and staring when you stop (real people tend not to do that, they have their own set of feelings and interests and act on them).

I’ll be back with an overview of the game.