Worst Cheating AI

[TwinChargers]

After reading MattyG's comment on Civ IV's AI being a pain, I was wondering what games, in your opinion, have the worst cheating AI? For me I was always disgusted with how cheap the AI was in the Mario Kart games. Really turned me off from the series right from the get-go on the SNES. Anyways, what AI has given you the most frustration over the years cause there only way to win was to cheat?

[SoulBlazer]

Most of the Command and Conquer and F-Zero games come to mind. Still love them to death, though.

[S1500]

There have been countless racing games where the AI drivers are perfect motorists. They never screw up on corners, bump into each other, etc. At least with Gran Turismo 4 the cars get into accidents, but won't dodge you if you leave your car just standing there.

[ericwierson]

Atari 2600 Chess. It even cheats on the easy levels which makes it no fun to play at all. Porky's 2600 is a little cheap on the pole vault and the 1st screen. Paperboy arcade version cheats also.

[ericwierson]

There have been countless racing games where the AI drivers are perfect motorists. They never screw up on corners, bump into each other, etc. At least with Gran Turismo 4 the cars get into accidents, but won't dodge you if you leave your car just standing there.

Agree 100%.

[shadow460]

Command & Conquer, but you can really turn that against them by getting engineers, thieves, or spies into their silos and refineries. I've played my share of matches versus computers and it's nice to get a quarter million credits from a single well planned attack.

 

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is another one. The computer's moves are timed almost exactly with yours. I don't think it formulates a strategy aside from performing the exact counter attack to whatever move you do. Otherwise, it'll hit you once and then sit there until time runs out.

 

Super Off Road--the computer cars stats max out above yours. You have to lose a race in order to slow them down.

 

Power Mission gives its own units longer firing range.

[STICH666]

Forza 3.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HSoOWKdbwU

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl8VyLbN-zs

Edited November 25, 2009 by STICH666

[horseboy]

NBA Jam is the worst. If you get a big lead the other team will sink every shot until it is close again.

[SoulBlazer]

There have been countless racing games where the AI drivers are perfect motorists. They never screw up on corners, bump into each other, etc. At least with Gran Turismo 4 the cars get into accidents, but won't dodge you if you leave your car just standing there.

 

Agreed, but another racing games where AI cars crash is EA's Nascar arcade machine. One of my favorite racing games.

[StanJr]

Sonic Shuffle (Dreamcast). The computer always gets exactly what it needs to win the game, every time. To win you have to be extremely lucky.

[Rev. Rob]

Combat Cars - This game cheats like a siv. Not only do they drive perfectly, but they clusterfuck you right off of the starting line like you were a 12 year old boy at the Vatican.

[Herbarius]

Atari 2600 Chess. It even cheats on the easy levels which makes it no fun to play at all.

 

Are you sure? From what I've read it only "cheats" on the higher levels - and even that isn't cheating per se but rather messing up the board: Instead of having the AI cheat intentionally to make the game harder - which would be stupid for a game like chess - it's some bug in the code which affects the current positions of the pieces on the board. My guess is it is the result of an effort to minimize the amount of used RAM that went horribly wrong.

 

 

Someone mentioned C&C, yes that AI cheats pretty badly, but that never bothered me, at least in the campaign mode (the only mode available to play the computer in the first game). I never saw it so much as cheating but more as "the AI works differently". Also it needs to cheat that much to actually be challenging, and even that way you could beat it quite easily up until the last few missions of each campaign - only talking about those missions where you could build your own base. The ones where you couldn't build usually were quite difficult, at least until you worked out a proper tactic.

 

In the skirmish mode of Red Alert, however, I thought it was unfair, usually the AI tank-rushed you very early, so you had to start out very defense-heavy and even then you might not survive the first attack. Also, if you played multiple opponents, they would automatically ally against you. In skirmish mode the excuse "it just works different for them" didn't apply anymore, because it's supposed to simulate a multiplayer game, a symmetric situation.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Herbarius

[Austin]

The Mortal Kombat series has to be some of the worst. Not only is the AI programmed to respond specifically to certain actions, it can do things a real player cannot (standing uppercuts, throws during moves in action, etc. etc.).

[gdement]

There have been countless racing games where the AI drivers are perfect motorists. They never screw up on corners, bump into each other, etc. At least with Gran Turismo 4 the cars get into accidents, but won't dodge you if you leave your car just standing there.

 

 

I think the problem is limited CPU time for physics on the other drivers. Or at least, that would have been the excuse back in the 90's. Nowadays I guess they just don't care to improve.

 

My favorite racing game ever is NASCAR Racing by Papyrus from 1995. But as realistic as that game is, the AI is still rigged. It's apparent that the AI doesn't have as much physics as the player, and mostly glide around the track, although they will try to dodge hitting you. They will have solo crashes on occasion, but it appears to be an arbitrary event. You'll be behind a car and it will suddenly spin out mid corner, because it lost the random number lottery.

 

That game is very realistic for the player though, much better than Gran Turismo in my opinion. It ran well on a higher end 486. Early Pentiums were the dream machine at the time.

 

Obviously with today's hardware they could run that game with full physics on all drivers and an AI that drives based on those physics. But that would be hard to program and there'd be less time for graphics.

[STICH666]

There have been countless racing games where the AI drivers are perfect motorists. They never screw up on corners, bump into each other, etc. At least with Gran Turismo 4 the cars get into accidents, but won't dodge you if you leave your car just standing there.

 

 

I think the problem is limited CPU time for physics on the other drivers. Or at least, that would have been the excuse back in the 90's. Nowadays I guess they just don't care to improve.

 

My favorite racing game ever is NASCAR Racing by Papyrus from 1995. But as realistic as that game is, the AI is still rigged. It's apparent that the AI doesn't have as much physics as the player, and mostly glide around the track, although they will try to dodge hitting you. They will have solo crashes on occasion, but it appears to be an arbitrary event. You'll be behind a car and it will suddenly spin out mid corner, because it lost the random number lottery.

 

That game is very realistic for the player though, much better than Gran Turismo in my opinion. It ran well on a higher end 486. Early Pentiums were the dream machine at the time.

 

Obviously with today's hardware they could run that game with full physics on all drivers and an AI that drives based on those physics. But that would be hard to program and there'd be less time for graphics.

Or you can go for their latest game Nascar Racing 2003. It's still the most realistic Nascar game out there.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pURH4DgEBGY

[Tempest]

Atari 2600 Chess. It even cheats on the easy levels which makes it no fun to play at all.

 

Are you sure? From what I've read it only "cheats" on the higher levels - and even that isn't cheating per se but rather messing up the board: Instead of having the AI cheat intentionally to make the game harder - which would be stupid for a game like chess - it's some bug in the code which affects the current positions of the pieces on the board. My guess is it is the result of an effort to minimize the amount of used RAM that went horribly wrong.

Hmm... Anyone ever actually go through the code and see what is going on?

 

Tempest

[pinball22]

Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack. For some reason someone put this on one of the computers in my dorm in college, and for some even stranger reason my friends and I played it. The games have various skill levels, and the harder ones are made that way by having the AI cheat like crazy. Play Go Fish on the hardest level and Fatty Bear turns out to have the amazing psychic ability to always know what cards you have.

[Tr3vor]

some of the harder duels on the psp's force unleased. they just know exactly what to do at any part of the battle.

[ericwierson]

Atari 2600 Chess. It even cheats on the easy levels which makes it no fun to play at all.

 

Are you sure? From what I've read it only "cheats" on the higher levels - and even that isn't cheating per se but rather messing up the board: Instead of having the AI cheat intentionally to make the game harder - which would be stupid for a game like chess - it's some bug in the code which affects the current positions of the pieces on the board. My guess is it is the result of an effort to minimize the amount of used RAM that went horribly wrong.

 

 

Someone mentioned C&C, yes that AI cheats pretty badly, but that never bothered me, at least in the campaign mode (the only mode available to play the computer in the first game). I never saw it so much as cheating but more as "the AI works differently". Also it needs to cheat that much to actually be challenging, and even that way you could beat it quite easily up until the last few missions of each campaign - only talking about those missions where you could build your own base. The ones where you couldn't build usually were quite difficult, at least until you worked out a proper tactic.

 

In the skirmish mode of Red Alert, however, I thought it was unfair, usually the AI tank-rushed you very early, so you had to start out very defense-heavy and even then you might not survive the first attack. Also, if you played multiple opponents, they would automatically ally against you. In skirmish mode the excuse "it just works different for them" didn't apply anymore, because it's supposed to simulate a multiplayer game, a symmetric situation.

Too be honest I have not played it (2600 Chess) in many years, but I am pretty sure the A.I. moved the rook diagnally or some other impossible move like that. I think I will play it again this 4 day week-end and see if maybe I was mistaken on the level or completely off base.

[BydoEmpire]

Blitz and NBA Jam, certainly. They alway keeps the game close.

 

I always hated the Mortal Kombat AI, especially the final boss. Very cheesy AI.

[mattyg]

As mentioned Civ IV is my bane - it's incredibly hard on the higher settings - the handbook even tells you it gonna cheat - but even on the medium settings there are issues. You can be streets ahead on the tech curve when suddenly you lose to an unknown nation who has achieved cultural victory. I learnt to counter this by taking the most direct tree to getting ICBM's and then launching them against any city of cultural value - friend or foe - or there is the issue of "random events".GRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr....there goes another mouse.

 

I think the worst offenders have been mentioned - Mortal Kombat , most car racing games - I also have a deep set hatred for games that respawn enemies just about on top of you - you know which games I'm talking about!

 

Special kudos has to go to NFS on the 3DO - in that game traffic and accidents affect the chasing police and your opponent equally - the AI seems to be just right - so the question is - what are the excuses for today's games developers?

[gdement]

I think the worst cheating AI would have to be the yellow car in RC Pro Am.

 

And another, not really a cheat but on a tangent:

There was a cute gambling game you could play with somebody in a bar in Ultima 6 - it was rigged by design. The character explains the rules, and you play a few times, until you figure out that it's a scam. I think he even lets you win sometimes.

 

 

Or you can go for their latest game Nascar Racing 2003. It's still the most realistic Nascar game out there.

Looks like it might be good... that's just a bunch of crashes though. It seems like those crashes should have caused more damage, but whatever.

 

I had NASCAR 2 but didn't like it quite as much. I attributed the differences to Sierra taking over Papyrus, and didn't pay much attention to later sequels.

I rented some version of NASCAR 200? for the PS2 once, but the controls were unplayable.

2003 on the PC might be good though. The biggest hurdle against me trying it is I'd have to buy a new USB controller, as my CH Flightstick is a 15-pin. Controls good enough for a racing game are expensive.

[STICH666]

I think the worst cheating AI would have to be the yellow car in RC Pro Am.

 

And another, not really a cheat but on a tangent:

There was a cute gambling game you could play with somebody in a bar in Ultima 6 - it was rigged by design. The character explains the rules, and you play a few times, until you figure out that it's a scam. I think he even lets you win sometimes.

 

 

Or you can go for their latest game Nascar Racing 2003. It's still the most realistic Nascar game out there.

Looks like it might be good... that's just a bunch of crashes though. It seems like those crashes should have caused more damage, but whatever.

 

I had NASCAR 2 but didn't like it quite as much. I attributed the differences to Sierra taking over Papyrus, and didn't pay much attention to later sequels.

I rented some version of NASCAR 200? for the PS2 once, but the controls were unplayable.

2003 on the PC might be good though. The biggest hurdle against me trying it is I'd have to buy a new USB controller, as my CH Flightstick is a 15-pin. Controls good enough for a racing game are expensive.

Nascar Thunder 200X games on the PS2 were god awful. But yeah if you wanted to you could have some great races.

[nester]

I used to hate on Mutant League Football how the computer players always knew when you bribed the ref before you even ran a play. I can't remember any specific examples, but I remember some more realistic football games where the computer always knew when you were doing a fake. That always drove me nuts. That completely defeats the purpose!

[retrorussell]

Geese Howard on the first Fatal Fury had b.s. AI. WHATEVER move you used on him he'd counter. He even had the ability to grab you in mid-move and throw you. Pr*ck!!!