Gather round fellow gamers, young and old, and I’ll tell you a tale of a golden age long past, when the creatures that roam our virtual landscapes stepped blinking into the sunlight for the first time, picked up a thigh bone and smashed stuff with it. 1998 was the year, and Half-Life the game. It brought us Marines who were seemingly capable of outflanking the player, and flushing them out with smartly thrown grenades. Even its roaches responded to light, movement and smell.
Half Life was followed soon after by Thief, whose dark streets were populated by guards with various states of awareness, able to respond to sounds made by the player and even sounds made by other AI. Then in 1999 came Unreal Tournament, featuring AI that could snipe your face off from half a mile away. Halo in 2001 had smart, surprising AI that was so good it was a reason to buy the nascent Xbox. At that point, a future of human-like AI – opponents that could adapt to the players movements and actions – didn’t seem that far away.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games
