Ten of Gamings Greatest A.I. Characters

           

Artificial Intelligence. It’s the scariest thing the human species has faced since cloning, zombies and stem cell research. What could be more terrifying then the machines we depend on every day, suddenly rising up to enslave us instead? Communications monitored! Assets frozen! Transportation shut down! FRIDGES AT ROOM TEMPERATURE!!

Well, that’s probably a long way off.  The best we can manage at the moment is the iDog, Robo-sapien and maybe that one that plays chess. Wow, look out, we might have to king him! We humans have at least another ten years up our sleeve, no problem. In the mean time, we can turn to good old video games for our ‘previews of coming attractions’.

 Of all the characters that have appeared in our games over the years, few have been quite as memorable as the A.I’s. Some were helpful, guiding us to victory and even eager to learn the inner quirks of mankind. Others were not so friendly; acquiring self awareness, and the megalomaniacal tendencies of a rogue God.

Let’s look back on the best A.I’s gaming has provided, and perhaps catch a glimpse of our future rulers in the process!


(Further Note: I am aware that is a treacherous topic, since each A.I. has more then an armies worth of loyal fans behind them. I’ll try my best to do each one justice, but please avoid rallying the lynch mob if I miss something important. Polite corrections are welcome)

           


Portal was a fantastic game, no denying it. Though short, the innovative gameplay, clever puzzles, and mysterious connection to the Half Life universe provided us with a unique and polished experience unlike any other. But most will agree; without GLaDOS, Portal would have been pretty bland.

GLaDOS first appeared to players as a smooth (though occasionally glitchy) female voice, providing ‘helpful’ advice as you portaled your way around the Aperture Science Enrichment Centre. At first it seems her role is to guide and help you, but the deeper you go, the more GLaDOS’s sanity is questioned, as are her motives. Only at the end of the ‘course’ are her homicidal intentions made clear, and after a near miss the rest of the game is spent working your way through the deteriorating bowels of Aperture Science.

The final confrontation with the evil A.I. herself (while not particularly difficult) is one of the more memorable end game bosses out there. Not even the threat of a deadly neurotoxin can stop people enjoying her fantastic dialogue, as GLaDOS reveals the fate of the Aperture staff, taunts you no end with personal truths(/lies?) and warns you with cryptic messages about the outside world.  

Brilliantly amusing, unfathomably sinister, and undeniably loveable, GLaDOS is the A.I. that won our hearts while denying us cake. Even forcing us to euthanise our beloved Companion Cube can’t taint our feelings for her. And though we had to destroy her hardware, we can still take solace in the fact that somewhere, somehow…

GLaDOS is Still Alive.

                     


Deus Ex was a ground breaking game for its time, that still has a massive cult following today. You played as J.C. Denton, a nano-augmented agent working for UNATCO, an Anti-Terrorist organisation. Things start off all simple and full of terrorist-kicking fun. But as the game progresses, you discover that things definitely aren’t as they seem, and what follows is an epic game full of twists, politics, betrayals and choices.

During his flight from the organisation he once worked for, Denton is contacted by two different AI’s.

Daedalus was a powerful construct made by MJ12, years prior to the game. Thought to be obsolete and decommissioned, he instead took refuge inside the net, and began to accumulate data. Seeing that the world was on the verge of collapse, he began working behind the scenes to put things on the right track again. Though self aware, Daedalus was a bit of a wuss personality wise, and would always pop up to dispense advice that was more worried then helpful. Quite prone to panic, and somewhat of a pessimist, he’d guide the player best he could, but never seemed to have much confidence in what could be achieved.

Icarus was the more interesting of the two. An updated version of Daedalus, Icarus was used by MJ12 to track the player down. He arrives unannounced, about half way through the game, and states his intentions on finding you. He then returns at random intervals to comment on pieces of information he’s retrieving from your brain, and warn about how close he’s getting. With a creepy synthetic voice, and a sadistic personality that seems to relish in the hunt, Icarus did a fantastic job at unnerving players. I’ve even heard of people who stopped playing because they were afraid of what would happen when he did eventually get them.

Towards the end, when Denton allows Daedalus to access the military network, the two AI’s accidentally merge into a new form, calling themselves "Helios". This new and more powerful creation seems to have a personality balanced between the two older AI’s, and speaks in a much calmer, more logical tone. It also developed an almost “Godly” perception of itself. Helios helps – or rather “uses” – the player for the rest of the game, as it speaks about the new world order it wants to create, eventually resulting as a choice in one of the games three endings.

The presence of the AI's definitely played a part in what made Deus Ex so intriguing and memorable. Always remember; Icarus is watching.

                       


Long, long ago, before Bungie made Myth and a certain more popular Xbox series, another legendary FPS was born: Marathon is the game many believe Halo was based on, or perhaps was even the prequel too. (Depending on which difficulty you finish Halo 3 in.)

Even fifteen years later, Marathon still has a legion of fans, and its three witty, brilliant and rampant AI’s are the biggest reasons for that. The first game takes place on one of Mars’ moons that has been converted into a ship (Marathon), and is the only one that features Leela.

When Marathon is over run by an alien race, Leela, as the main AI, helps the player by teleporting him around, getting him to fix the ships defences and communications to Earth. Personality wise she is the least impressive of the three, coming across as your average cold, emotionless computer. Though she does seem sympathetic towards humans, and cares about what would happen if the alien race was to discover Earth, this appears to be more a part of her programming then personal thought. She is eventually overcome by the cybernetic creatures eating away at her, and is later captured and dissected by the aliens.

Tycho is one of the lesser AI’s, and features only briefly in the first game. Having been damaged in the attack, he is unable to contact the player, and only appears after being repaired by the alien race (in a much less stable state then before). By the third game however, he is one of the key characters, taking over the role of the players guide. When rampant, he is the cruellest of the AI’s, and seems to be stuck in a permanent state of anger. Sporting a wickedly bitter personality, and forcing the player to execute commands without remorse, Tycho never fails to back up his or your actions with a sarcastic and snide remark.

                               

While those two AIs appeared in their own games respectively, there’s little argument that the third AI: Durandal, is the focus of much of the series. Of the three, Durandal is the most loved and remembered by the community, and many of the things he says are still being studied today.

Durandal is the first AI the player meets, after he tries to kill you by decompressing your shuttle. That says a lot for his personality right there. Though rampant, he is not as cruel as Tycho, and instead seems more interested in meddling. Even playful at times. At many points during the first game, he tele-kidnaps the player and forces you to “play a little game”. This usually involves being thrown into hordes of enemies for Durandals amusement.

His mean sense of humour aside, Durandal does not appear evil, despite showing an outward dislike of humans. As the trilogy progresses, his ulterior motives are revealed, and even has the entire second game devoted to him! Durandal’s story ran quite deep for a non-physical character, and many people have devoted entire webpages to unravelling it.

Marathon was definitely one of the more imaginative and unique space adventures of its time, and we can only wonder what lays in store for its future. With Bungie making numerous allusions to it during Halo, and now finally broken away from Microsoft, could we one day see Marathon gracing our Xboxs? Would the rabidly possessive fanbase accept a next gen remake? Durandal may yet return.