There is something cool and Meta about interacting with, playing as, or fighting against an artificial intelligence in video games. AI has captured our imaginations in print, film, and even songs, but games give us the space to interact with and see fantastic worlds from otherwise impossible perspectives.
To be very clear, this is not about the games with the most intelligent “CPU AI”. We’re not discussing whether the “AI” is hard to beat in a game. We are talking about fictional representations of artificial intelligence. Here’s a hands-on introduction to the difference between the two concepts.
This was a tough list, and I probably left out your favorites, but only because I decided that “best” means: those who I think have made the most impact.
I hope you will agree with at least a point or two on this list, but honestly, if you don’t and a conversation starts about AI in video games, that’s just as good.
To the list:
number five
No, not the spunky little military murder machine with the friendly refugee “Number Five” (AKA Johnny Five) from the movie “Short Circuit” from the 1980s. We’ll start the list backwards so we can count to number one.
The Cylons of Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock Start things because you are the perfect villain for a hardcore strategy war game.
I am in love BSG: DL for many reasons. When it comes to turn-based tactical strategy games, I find it hard to think of one that I enjoy more. Essentially, it is a sea combat game with the added challenge of a vertical axis. The scope of the game is large enough to demonstrate the enormity of your command ships and the dozen of ships that all take part in the maneuvers and reaction dances that are tactical warfare.
But what really sets it apart is the enemy. When I play most of the war / strategy games I am forced to expect a certain amount of politics. When I drop bombs on enemy cities Heart of iron IV or send my warriors to pillage a city in one go Civilization VI, I know I kill innocent digital civilians too. I just don’t care if I want to win.
And that’s probably a good thing. We don’t want to get stuck in the bowels and horrors of war when we play the classic, for example Battleship Board game. It’s just a game, isn’t it?
But Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock Let me face reality without feeling like genocide. The Cylons are not humans. And while they are sentient and likely deserve to live, it is evident that they will not rest until every last human is destroyed. And that gives the whole game a sense of gravity and urgency that you just don’t get when you draw the map in most strategy games.
number four
It was very simple: it’s Claptrap, it’s Claptrap, it’s always been Claptrap! I love claptrap. In fact, I’ve never met a player who doesn’t.
Claptrap is one of the best things ever to get out of the hail Border areas Franchise. It first appeared in the original game as a kind of guide of sorts and its role continued to grow until it was eventually made a playable character in the Borderlands pre-sequel, that was the third published title.
There has been some controversy surrounding the release of Border areas 3 because the original person who voiced Claptrap, a Gearbox employee named David Eddings, chose not to repeat the role. He was reportedly not offered adequate money to perform. The transmission said that was not the case.
While I definitely missed Eddings and hailed their work as one of the best in video games, her successor, Jim Faronda, did an excellent job in Part 3 as well.
Aside from being really entertaining, funny, and occasionally lovable, I included Claptrap on this list and not, for example, the LGBTQPIA + FL4K icon because Claptrap isn’t just a supporting character (and a one-time playable character): it’s a buffer between the gory nature of the game, with its psychopathy-is-the-norm attitude, and the random silliness that permeates the world of the game.
Without a gossip trap Border areas is just Mad Max with fart jokes.
number three
My personal favorite AI character of all time is GLaDOS. This AI was once human before it turned into a disembodied voice, a chip on a potato (got it?) And finally a robot. The reason I like GLaDOS is so much because it’s just cheeky. It’s the AI I want to hang out with at a party the most. But in a strange way that we make fun of everyone else.
portal was one of those games that changed the way everyone viewed gaming. People weren’t ready for the stunning combination of stunning graphics, breathtaking comedy, and incredible gameplay.
Most of all, they weren’t ready for the psychotic, murderous, cake-loving, and lying intelligence that GLaDOS is.
GLaDOS is the most entertaining AI in games for my money. Not only is it fun, it’s a talented singer too. The credits for portal The entity sings a song called “Still Alive” which was so catchy it ended Rock band 3.
number two
The robot species from Synthetic Dawn, a Stellaris DLC. There’s no character here to point out, but that’s why it’s a very close second to being my favorite fictional AI. You are the AI in Synthetic Dawn.
Stellaris is a great space strategy game in which you control an entire civilization. With Synthetic dawn You can become a sentient AI species, and that means understanding and solving the unique challenges posed by leading machines in a galaxy full of organics.
The writing is excellent and the art and events are fantastic, but what really shines here are the little things. Playing as a machine fundamentally changes the experience of governing in the Stellaris in so many little ways that it essentially becomes a completely different gaming experience.
With a mid-game crisis at your limits, enemies in all directions, and at least half of the galaxy believing that your species doesn’t matter, life as an AI civilization is tough. But it’s also full of unique situations. For example, you have the opportunity to purify organic substances and use their life force as energy to promote your growth in the matrix. And over the course of many games, you will find old machine intelligences that react to your species in this way Life Creatures could never understand.
[Related: Games to play on date night: Rule the galaxy together in Stellaris]
Maybe I’m biased, but as someone who is paid to think about what it will be like if AI ever becomes sentient, I find it extremely thoughtful to embody robots in a game on a political, economic, and military level.
Number one
As much as I enjoy being the machines StellarisCortana is clearly the winner here. As far as I know, there has never been a video game character that literally manifested itself in real life before Cortana stepped off the Xbox and became everyone’s secretary.
Today, Cortana is most commonly used as the Microsoft version of Alexa or Siri. You probably now have that little circle icon at the bottom left of your system tray if you’re on a PC. You can click on it and, just like Masterchief, ask Cortana to help you.
But before it was just another AI we mostly use to ask how old celebrities are (I can’t be the only one), Cortana was the heart and soul of the gloriole Franchise. You might think that this was the guy in the big green armor with the gun that looked suspiciously like Ridley Scott’s “Aliens,” but it was clearly Cortana.
gloriole was an early graphic science fiction shooter, but it looked and played a lot like a modern war game. Warthogs really just looked like fancy Humvees, and most of the human weapons, buildings, and vehicles had a fairly modern aesthetic. I can only guess that this served to turn them into personable protagonists that we could identify with when we look at them against the colorful, spiky, alien enemies.
Cortana was the plot of the distant future gloriole had to keep players in the science fiction mindset as they wandered through brown, green, and gray landscapes. And in a way, it stays the same in the real world.
While we live in a world where the AI discourse increasingly affects our fears of privacy, abuse, and misalignment, Cortana somehow reminds us that things have changed rapidly in the past few years. We couldn’t always just say: “Cortana, how is that in Amsterdam at the moment?” and let a pleasant sounding robot give you the right answer.
Cortana reminds us that the future is now. And undoubtedly, it was instrumental in developing the AI systems we use today.
Published on March 17, 2021 – 23:51 UTC
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