Some more thoughts on a very important issue about Halo.
HALO in-game A.I. and Difficulty level thoughts.
Well in my 6 hours or so with Halo here are my thoughts.
The AI doesn't have any special features that are only activated on higher difficulty levels, but most of their attack options and maneuvers will increase in likelihood of appearance - plus some of their general behavior changes subtly. For example, the AI is tuned to play a more defensive game on higher levels because if it was to launch a full-fledged offensive you wouldn't stand a chance. There are many other changes by difficulty level of course.
To give you some idea of the difficulty levels, whenever I played on Normal (never Easy, aka Grandma Mode) you can pull off the most outrageous frontal assaults and basically own the entire Covenant force with style; on this difficulty level it's clear that you are the super-warrior that the story implies. But that's normal mode, and base this on the fact that I am quite good at this hobby of ours.
If I'm playing to have fun without thinking too hard, I choose Heroic. This difficulty is tailored to be an interesting challenge for skilled players, and a little light exercise for the experts. You'll be required to think tactically and understand the weaknesses of your foes - giving quarter or being reckless will still get you killed, but at this level it's still possible to be the hero if you're skilled, or you know what you're doing.
For an epic battle (or if we're playing co-op) I pick Legendary. It will take some 70 hours of continuous play to finish the game on this difficulty ( so say the dev's, and that's if you are pretty much an expert) legendary mode is a beast, trust me, I do love those challenges however. Many of your enemies will be outflanking you and firing from multiple directions, and they'll retreat and build up their shields if you damage any individual too heavily. also, if you don't know what you're doing, or you get taken unaware, it's very possible for a single covenant elite warrior to nail you (and don't talk to me about the commanders).
This means that you can't afford to try and set up a trap / kill zone like you would in myth, or doom. You'll spend a lot of your time at long range trying to take individual targets down before they know what hit them, or else getting up close and personal in an attempt to pull off the perfect assault.
It also plays rather differently to marathon's Total Carnage difficulty because you have shields that will continuously recharge if you can give them a few seconds to 'rest' without being hit. So rather than being about endurance like marathon, beating Halo is about controlling the action, striking quickly and being able to disengage if you need to... of course this isn't always possible, which means you have to look at it from another point of view: I have this buffer of shields, which means that I have about six seconds to clear the room. Two grenades, one half-charged plasma pistol, one clip of assault rifle ammo, four elite warriors on the other side of this door. Go, it's time to rock.............
With Shrek being 80+ hours, and Azurik being 100, Munch about 60, and now this game with all kinds of replayability the XBOX sure is showing more than great graphics, they are showing longevity as well. Why should great things end I always say. And the A.I. still to me is the biggest improvement of all with the XBOX. I already love it.
So what level will you play, Grandma mode ( Easy), Normal, Heroic, or Legendary mode ( Best played when in Co-op mode).
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