Top 10 VideoGames with the Worst A.I.

Top 10 Video Games with the Worst AI

Intelligence isn’t a good word to describe what we dealt with in these games. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 video games with the worst AI.

For this list, we ranked the most annoying AI in video games, whether it’s because they’re too easy, hard, or just plain dumb. We decided to exclude 8 and 16-bit games since those can be forgiven due to the technical limitations at the time. And finally while we do one game per franchise, we decided to allow whole series of games in one entry if the A.I never got any better.

#10: “Halo” series (2001-)

Yes we do have fans in the office that like these games, but the Marines drive us nuts. Even though they’re supposed to be on your side, they barely shoot their guns to help you out, and they all seem like they’re begging to be destroyed by your enemies. And don’t even think about asking them to drive a Warthog or a Tank, because that well … you’ll probably be there for a while.

#9: “Rogue Warrior” (2009)

Do you usually have trouble taking down your opponents with grenades? If so, this is the game for you, because your enemies will normally just stand there and let themselves blow them up when you throw explosives at them. They’re not particularly observant, either—if two of them are standing around and you kill one, the other guy never seems to notice that anything’s happened to his buddy that’s right next to him.

#8: “StarCraft” series (1998-)

You can have a lot of fun ordering our troops around in this game, but not when we had to get them through choke points. When you try to get large ground units up cliffs, they tend to block access to the entrances and let enemies take them out. Apparently the Protoss are great at designing walking crab tanks that can teleport across the galaxy to wage war, but damned if they can figure out going through tight spaces in single file. Then every so often someone gets stuck behind a inert pile of minerals. Oh boy.

#7: “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” (2004)

For such a defining franchise, the games really have some awful AI, and San Andreas is the worst offender. Despite supposedly being loyal to you, your fellow gang members often won’t help you much,. The cops themselves aren’t much better, since they have no qualms about standing around and waiting for you to fire at them. But worse are Firefighters, who seem to have flunked out of driving school and were still put behind the wheel…

#6: “Dead Rising” (2006)

You’d think that the zombie apocalypse would be a cause for alarm, but you wouldn't know it from the way the survivors in this game behave. You’re tasked with escorting some of them to safety, which would be hard enough if they were cooperating with you fully, since you’re surrounded by undead. Unfortunately, they prefer to do stupid things like get stuck in water fountains, or sometimes even attack you, just for fun.

#5: “Fallout” series (1997-)

Oh where do we even begin with this series? Well in the first game your allies don’t seem too intent on helping you. They shoot you in the back whenever they get a chance, and they’re also fond of trapping you against walls so that you can’t keep playing. Not only that but talking to some NPC’s can be … weird. And in the Fallout 3 and New Vegas all the NPC’s seem to have no sense of self preservation … (Show 3 soldiers walking into each other) or in this case a sense of anyone around them.

#4: “Daikatana” (2000)

John Romero is one of the most legendary designers in video game history, being one of the creative minds behind classics like “Doom” and “Quake,” but he failed spectacularly with this FPS title, and the AI is one of its worst aspects. Sidekick Superfly “the stereotype” Johnson loves to get in your way by standing in your line of fire, and damsel in distress Mikiko seems to want to stay in distress based on her reluctance to pick up health and weapons.

#3: “Resident Evil 5” (2009)

The first time you play Single player your ally Sheva will drive you nuts because she is such a liability. She doesn’t seem to care much about defeating the enemies, because she tends to walk into your line of fire, or worse, trip wires. And often uses the wrong weapons against bosses and wastes healing items on minor wounds, what’s even worse is that if she dies you get Game Over. Because of her stupidity, playing this game Co-op is pretty much a necessity.

#2: “Aliens: Colonial Marines” (2013)

You’d think Xenomorph’s would be terrifying to take on. There are a bunch of them, but they don’t gang up to take you out or sneak up on you—they seem content to just run at you as you pick them off. And in some cases their A.I is so chaotic that it looks like they’re dancing. Your Allies aren’t that much help either, sometimes getting stuck in doors, or get in your way, or just fire their guns at walls.

Before we get to our number one, let’s take a look at some dishonorable mentions:

“Assassin’s Creed II” (2009)

“Hitman: Blood Money” (2006)

“GoldenEye 007” (1997)

“The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct” (2013)

#1: “Ride to Hell: Retribution” (2013)

No AI sucked more than what we saw in this title, so much so that it made it onto our Worst Games of all time list. The simplistic hand-to-hand combat only allows you to punch, kick, block, or break blocks, but you won’t need anything worse against your enemies, because they never put up much of a threat. Shooting isn’t much better, because aiming is nearly impossible, but again, the AI enemies are pretty much suicidal, since they have no idea how cover works or run right into your gun’s line of sight, or just run into a corner.

Do you agree with our list? Which video game AI do you think would be eligible for a Darwin Award? For top 10s that suck less than these bots published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.