(improving the AI too much) would almost certainly result in enemy behavior that players found cheaty and frustrating, too computer-y and perfect.
Ever played online against someone really good at a game? Same feeling!
So if that’s “bad AI” then sign me up (well, if I want a Hard level Challenge). I’ll take that any day over magical health and damage reductions to simulate difficulty.
Although the grunts did take cover and did hurl grenades at you, I never saw any kind of complicated flanking maneuvers like I always hear about. But, maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention
I found Half-Life 2 incredibly disappointing, mainly because the Half-Life 2 combine AI was vastly inferior to the grunt AI in Half-Life 1. Somehow, we went from grunt encounters I’d play through a couple times just for fun, to gunning down endles hordes of brainless combine troops that I couldn’t wish myself through fast enough. That is NOT an improvement.
Half-Life 2 just wasn’t that great, and the way it had stereotypical on-rails driving and jetboat sequences made it even worse. In fact it’s one of the greatest gaming disappointments I’ve had in recent memory.