I think everyone who thinks that the HL1 AI is “better” should just play HL2 on hard mode When you encounter a group of combine in an arena part of a map don’t go on a kill crazy rampage. Just stop and actually OBSERVE what they do. They flank, run for cover, go from cover to cover, flush you out…all sorts of things that you just don’t see cuz they die in .54 seconds due to low health, not stupidity.
I never thought the Combine were pushovers, I play the game on Normal and they’re not that difficult but they do take cover and try to flush you out with grenades.
Personally I don’t like games that use too realistic combat, like ArmA or Operation Flashpoint. Enemies should be challenging but not overpowering (except bosses obviously).
^I agree completely.
After reading the first 2 pages of this thread I actually did that. I took some Combine Soldiers in EP1, and consoled a couple rebels in. They all went and took cover like you said. One threw a grenade but mostly they just shot. But though they are better, they still aren’t that good. 3 of the 8 soldiers after initially hiding, came out and stood in the middle of the street shooting.The biggest thing I hope to see for the HECU in BM is that they can shoot while on the move.
The combine AI is more advanced, it’s just that the grunts seem smarter.
How good their aim is is probably a factor, as is the fact that you can’t take them out with a 357 shot to the leg.
Seem, not are.
wut?
The grunts from HL seem more inteligent than the combine, but they aren’t.
fix’d
Yes, I have already noticed that. And not only in combines, but also hunters and, to a least extent, those acid antlions. Sometimes it is annoying - and challenging - how acid antlions hide themselves and keep shooting those acid stuff toward you behind cover, sometimes without you knowing where they are exactly. Other kinds of threats don’t need smartness as they just attack you, but the developers plan their position and the time they attack you to make it difficult.
I played HL1 after HL2. I got disappointed by many factors, and one of them was the lack of AI. I figured out that, what is missing in AI in HL1, they put in number of enemies and toughness. It was a bit lame fighting against a bunch of fools with high health, it is much more fun to fight against a smaller troop of smart people in a proper environment. You need to pay much more attention to what they might do, like moving and attacking you from a different place, surrounding you… Sometimes you have to fight for territory, or fall back when they advance and gain territory. You need more tactic.
And, of course, I play HL2 in hard mode 
and combine soldiers need two 357 shoots to die in hard mode, unless you hit the head.
In general, HL1 was fun to play, but not as much as HL2.
I had a better time shooting grunts than combine. The grunt AI is more fun to play with.
This. My thoughts exactly.
I agree as well. Smart guys with a fair amount of ‘health’ is what I’m hoping for.
watch the trailer again.
In case you CBA to watch it, they can.
I just miss how sprinted everywhere and such. The fast paced action, HL2 didn’t have that, and the Combine seem extremely sluggish in comparison. I also liked the way they used the burst fire mode.
Personally, I think they should use the burst-fire mode at long range, and full auto at close. And maybe even grenade launcher at medium depending on difficulty.
Better AI means that a computer controlled character will be able to react differently to more complexes situations, not necessarily being better at self preservation.
I also think Valve tried to give more of an action edge and a little bit less of a strategic edge to the combat. Now it was their decision, but i would guess that it was what they thought fitted the best with the feel of game.
I personally would like to see the grunts with a little more self preservation behaviour, hence a little more challenge, but Im really looking forward to see how differently they will react to different types of situations. How do they prioritize their targets? How will they interact as a group? how different will they be to the combine? Bah! Its gona be great
But self preservation IS part of the AI. And good AI includes self preservation.
As much as I know, the concept of AI goes around intelligent agents. An intelligent agent is a function in your program that makes decisions in order to complete a task. Every enemy is controlled by intelligent agents to complete the task “kill Freeman”, or even better “kill Freeman and try not to die”. And I think that is true even if the enemy just knows to shoot you when you are on sight; it would not include only enemies which repeatedly do the same thing regardless your presence (like in (old) platform games).
We bskly are both saying the same thing 
I just wanted to point out that better AI means a more complex decision making tree, therefore making the behaviour more diverse and more responsive to the environment.
I had the grunts in HL throw back one of my grenades. Needless to say I was shocked as I didn’t know that they could do that 
. I never really found a problem with the AI in HL2, though in HL there were numerous times where I encountered an enemy that just stood still while I shot them in the face.
Because they can’t…
Yet they did…
I didn’t hear my grenade explode and one came hurling back at me.