When I play FEAR I am always struck by the quality of the AI: when you burst out on a group of enemy soldiers they swear, duck, and run for cover. They’ll break windows and jump through the other side for cover. After you attack them they (audibly) find out how many people are left and assess the situation. You don’t need to suspend any disbelief to think that you are attacking a highly trained group of soldiers.
When I play STALKER I am always struck by the quality of the game environment. If you choose to wipe out a group of mercenaries that are holding off a vicious group of pseudodogs then the next time that you return to the area the dogs will be in force. If you do choose to do missions for one faction then their members will like you more, and be more likely to fight for you in future. The game environment is an autonomous immersable machine.
So which “they” should produce a game that is immersive on both local and global levels? “They” would need to produce a game that supports the modding community, that provides material for a vast multiplayer community such as new maps and game types. They should use next generation development methods to produce maintainable software for next generation consoles. Using next generation development methods precludes the concept of a “crunch time”.
Does any such company exist? If so, can they get cracking?
- John
